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Eid 2020: Chef Vikas Khanna shows how India can be united through food
Master chef, author, filmmaker Vikas Khanna has distributed about six million meals mid Covid-19 crisis. He says whenever he achieves something good, he plays a Shah Rukh Khan song, and dances to it.
For Eid is a festival of togetherness and gratitude, and the Michelin-star chef Vikas Khanna has already taken the lead by feeding two lakh people recently, in Mumbai, wherein dry rations, spices, seviyan, sugar, drinks, vegetables, fruits, and utensils were distributed. “Through this one month (of Ramzan), I wanted to show the world our solidarity, especially in the current times, and how the country can come together and be united through food. Challenges and darkness can be won only by unity and light,” says Khanna, in a telephonic conversation from US.
And not just this, the master chef has also taken up the arduous task and the massive operation of distributing six million cooked and dry rations in more than 79 cities across India. The numbers are huge, so the feeling must be surreal? Ask him and pat comes the reply, “Jaise mad scientist nahin hote the; calculate karte the ki iss sheher mein itni demand hain. Maine toh sirf mummy ke liye kiya (I did this for my mother). I was feeling helpless since mom is alone in Amritsar (Punjab). This was killing me.”
Khanna, who has directed the film, The Last Color (2019), tells us, “Main police se baat kar raha hun; main garam paani pi raha hoon, meri awaz nahin nikal rahi (I was just speaking to the police; and sipping hot water to clear my throat).”
Sharing how he began working on arranging rations for the needy, he says, “I received a photograph in a spam mail”; this was from an organisation that showed elderly lying on the floor, presumably sending out a message that these elderly hadn’t eaten for days! Khanna adds, “The picture was so powerful. Donate ka button tha wahan to maine donate kar diya. Later, I got to know that it was an old, fabricated photo. But, if you still think about old age homes or leprosy centres... Imagine, ration toh nahi hoga inke paas, because they are based on daily donations. And they can’t go out.”
Khanna tweeted about wanting to help and then there was no looking back. “Tweet mein toh aag lag gayi. Logon ne batana shuru kar diya. I said ‘I don’t want you to go outside of the house during the lockdown’. Kisi ke paas number hoga care taker ka. Kuch ration chahiye toh arrange karenge. We started (helping out like) this in various cities according to the demand. I was also self-paying in the beginning, and was thinking of the cost in so many ways,” says Khanna, who was later joined in by many helping hands.
Any noble task is often met with its share of ups and downs, and Khanna was duped on more than one occasions. But, he got the much needed push from his mother. “I gave the money to a guy and he blocked me on WhatsApp. I was like ‘What’s going on here’. It was difficult for my brain (to process). Mom said ‘Remember when you were a kid, and you used to cut and burn yourself all the time? Tab ghar mein sab kehte the yeh kya bewakoofon ka profession hai’. Biji kehte the ki haath nahin jalenge toh seekhega kaise khanna banana (My grandmother used to say that if you won’t burn your hand then how will you learn to cook!),” he recalls.
Yet, how he describes himself is by using phrases such as ‘old school’, ‘disciplined’ and ‘organised’.
Khanna was amazed by the power of solidarity on Twitter, and got motivated when celebs such as food writer Vir Sanghvi, veteran actors Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, boosted his morale.
Meanwhile, several volunteers joined Khanna. “We also saw people saying ‘We don’t want help, we want to help’. People felt the pain, hence were gravitating towards this. We did second experimentation in NCR. It was a super failure again. The question was who will deliver the ration? I tweeted on the issues of deliveries. And a boy tagged the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). That changed my life forever,” he shares.
Appreciation and naysayers, Khanna has seen both in the due process. “Of course, some people sent such hateful mails. I don’t respond to it. So much of hate you experience everyday. There have been times when ration has disappeared too. But jab achcha hota hai, main SRK [Shah Rukh Khan] ka gaana laga ke dance kar leta hoon (When something good works out, I play on SRK’s song and dance to it),” he quips.
And till when does he aims to continue this drive? “Jab tak himmat hai, karoonga. Maine kabhi aadha kaam nahi kiya hai (Till the time I have the energy, I will continue. I have never left a job mid-way),” he concludes.
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