Restaurant staff drives 30km to feed students

With most food stalls shut inside the Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Italy owing to the outbreak of coronavirus, staffers from an Indian restaurant drove

With most food stalls shut inside the Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Italy owing to the outbreak of coronavirus, staffers from an Indian restaurant drove 30km on Thursday to provide free food to the 100 students stranded for want of health certificates.

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Nandita Shah, a restaurateur, opened one of her three restaurants – Indian Affairs – shut down on account of Covid-19 outbreak on Thursday morning and called the chef, Keshav Kumar, to cook for 100 people.

Originally from Bengaluru, Shah made the decision after receiving several images of students stuck at the airport without food and water.

“Without food, immunity of the students could worsen, making them more susceptible to the new strain of coronavirus. We didn’t want to waste time cooking many items, so I asked the chef to make vegetarian biryani and juice for the students,” said Shah, who is currently in Bengaluru and coordinated with her team via telephone. “Despite the closure of several markets, we thankfully managed to get some vegetables and rice.”

Around 1pm, they docked the food in a car and drove to the airport. “Many cars aren’t allowed inside the airport premises. Thankfully, my team was allowed to go inside without any hassle,” she added.

Students who said they had not eaten a morsel since Wednesday evening were relieved.

“All food counters at the airport have been shut. We shared some biscuits that we had carried in our bags at night, but it wasn’t enough till afternoon,” said Rohit Manoj Kumar, a Delhi resident, who is pursuing his masters in mechanical engineering in Italy. “The food boxes came as the only silver lining amid the chaos.”