Kindness comes home on a platter

A two-member team cooks up a storm on the sidelines of a work-from-home arrangement; an entire family shares cooking chores willingly; and a homemaker who tucks a daughter’s concern into the food packets she sends home-alone seniors. Here is a whirlwind tour of three home kitchens in Chennai

Grateful for the timely help she received, Samika Javare is offering just that kind of help to others. Resident of a working women’s hostel in Thoraipakkam, Samika Javare provides free breakfast to COVID-19 positive people, doing this charity along with her friend and hostel-mate Arpitha Sankar. “When my parents (residents of Bengaluru) were down with COVID-19, I found someone who would supply them with food for 10 days. She refused to take any money for it. Inspired, I have started offering COVID-19 patients free breakfast. Arpitha and I do this service together,” says 26-year-old Samika, employed at a manufacturing company on Old Mahabalipuram Road. “We are not good at cooking, and so we constantly check out YouTube videos. We generally make idli, rice dosa, kambu dosa, pesarattu dosa and pudina parathas; and also, beetroot juice and spinach soup. We start cooking by 5 a.m. and ensure the food is delivered by 9 a.m,” says 27-year-old Arpitha Sankar, a soft-skills trainer whose home town is in Coimbatore. Their initiative is financially supported by their relatives, friends and colleagues.