Teacher picks up the ladle

Employed at a Government school, Prabhakaran has turned his house into a jumbo-sized kitchen to cook for the homeless. He also provides dry rations to the needy

In 2012, when S. Prabhakaran was pursuing his doctorate in Tamil at the University of Madras, he ran a tiffin centre in the evening hours to make ends meet and continue with his educational pursuit. Having to run the little kiosk caused him to develop an additional skill: cooking. The tiffin centre did not last long as he landed a government job. From March 2020, Prabhakaran is drawing upon that skill to feed the poor and needy. A teacher at the Government Higher Secondary School at Manavalar Nagar in Thiruvallur, Prabhakaran has been handling the ladle, except for a few months when COVID-positive cases in Chennai dipped. “During weekends, I help my wife in the kitchen, but cooking for such a large group was a big task. However, the experience of running a tiffin centre came in handy,” says 38-year-old Prabhakaran, who teaches Tamil to higher secondary school students.