Roti, charity and Eid: This man feeds 300 people everyday

Syed Gulab tells the story of his journey and the Roti Charity Trust, a Bengaluru-based NGO that is hoping to spread its reach pan India

“Eid ho, Holi ho ya Diwali… (Be it Eid, Holi or Diwali) we work on all festivals,” begins 41-year-old Syed Gulab. “These poor folk outside hospitals should’ve been celebrating Eid with their families too but here they sit... waiting for their loved ones,” he adds. Having cared for the attendants and relatives of the hospitalised for almost four years now, Gulab is used to feeding nearly 300 people, two meals a day in Bengaluru. And this Eid, he says, he is going to prepare a meal for approximately 250 people. The menu is carefully thought out. “We will probably make egg curry, a vegetable pulav, and a mithai — maybe Kheer Seviyan which we serve at home. For the kids, we take bananas and biscuits,” he says.

Syed Gulab and his NGO Roti Charity Trust feeds relatives of hospitalised in Bengaluru

While Gulab’s own Eid will probably not be that extravagant an affair owing to the lockdown, the father of three says, “Namaz will be read at home as we can’t gather at mosques. My kids will want to wear something new, so I will see what I can do… sirf bacho ke liye (only for the kids).”

Syed Gulab

Gulab began the Roti Charity Trust NGO in 2016 when after visiting his friend’s daughter in the hospital he saw those who couldn’t afford meals, as they were paying for the treatment of their loved ones. A former spray painter working in the Gulf, he began cooking food for nearly 200 people himself and would distribute it every Sunday at the junction of four hospitals in Bengaluru — Enhanced Health Care, Indira Gandhi Institute Of Child Health, SDS Tuberculosis Research Center & Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases and Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma & Orthopaedics. Within six months, his feat became a daily affair as he began to serve the people breakfast along with lunch, and thereafter he registered his NGO with the city’s municipal corporation.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Gulab says the NGO’s funds dried up as “donors stopped funding”. “Migrant workers used to call me saying they don’t have food. Even the association for labourers here asked me to help out. So, we began making ration kits of dal, rice and atta for them. So far, we have distributed 8,000 ration kits,” he says, adding that he has raised over ₹72 lakhs in less than a month, through a fundraiser with Milaap, a crowdfunding platform. It was Milaap that had got in touch with Gulab two years ago. “Some of our users had pointed out media coverage about his initiative and asked for a way to help him. So, we reached out to him and helped him start a fundraiser,” says a Milaap spokesperson. The goal of the fundraiser is to raise ₹10,000,000 to feed daily wage earners in Bengaluru but Gulab adds, “Upar wale ki marzi ho toh hum pure India ki seva kar sakte hain (God willing, we will one day be able to serve all Indians not just Bengaloreans)”. 

Ask him how he managed to get supplies during the 60-day lockdown and he says, “When the lockdown began, we had a month’s worth of vegetables with us. But mirchi (chillies), onions, potatoes were not available. We had to apply for an NGO pass to travel around the city to get these vegetables. Every morning, the vendors would sell their produce from 8am to 9am. So, we stalked our freezer with a week’s ration.” He further adds, “At the hospitals, we spoke to the people and asked them to maintain social distancing but as soon as we brought out the food, crowds would gather. So now we distribute parcels.”

But is he scared of the coronavirus? “I’m always scared but if we NGO people don’t do anything then how will it work? Sirf upar wale ki rehm hai aur logo ki dua hai (By God’s grace and the prayers of the people I feed, I am surviving),” he concludes.