The lockdown meant 24 hours of home confinement. It meant locks on offices and factories. The roads deserted. The bazaars silent. There were no hawkers vying for your attention. There are no corner shops hosting small addas This silence has brought gloom to many. And it has been dreadful to those without savings, scary for the daily wage earners, and a cruel joke on the homeless. In between this, there were a few who stepped out of their homes. Superheroes without capes but with masks and gloves. The community volunteers came forward to ease the plight of the most vulnerable and food insecure people in this pandemic. Such people are all around us, only if we care to stop and watch out for them. The Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) and Swiggy joined hands with iVolunteer for their newest initiative, Sabki Rasoi. While IPAC has no experience in the food industry at all, they rose to the occasion and started cooking food, packaging it and giving it to the swiggy delivery champions. They then deliver it to the communities in five slum pockets of Kolkata. After that the local community leaders and chain of volunteers serves the needy people. The volunteers are key in identifying the most vulnerable in the community. This initiative served 1000 people everyday for 11 days. There were 63 volunteers across five locations in Kolkata. Together we could come and stand beside a few people. A thousand people who were otherwise facing hungry. It reminds us of our privileges, our blessings. We feel humbled and grateful that these thousand people allowed us to stand beside them. They allowed us to serve them
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