Tamil Nadu lockdown: Food keeps their hope alive for a better tomorrow

TIRUCHY: As the sun started setting over the Cauvery Bridge in Tiruchy, there was a flurry of activity on an otherwise empty road. People started marching towards the bridge in ones and twos from 5 pm. They started sitting on the bridge one by one, maintaining adequate distance between each other. Some placed their bags to reserve their spot.

By 6.30 pm, both sides of the bridge were filled with people, sitting patiently while maintaining a distance between each other. This disciplined file of people consists of a mix of daily wage and migrant workers and other people who have been left jobless due to the lockdown.

They all assemble at the bridge for their dinner. As they watch the hues of orange blend with purples and red, they all share life stories. For 35-year-old Ezhumalai, Cauvery Bridge has been home for the past 20 years. Having left home (Villipuram) at the age of 15, he does odd jobs to earn a living.

"Food was initially difficult to come by when the lockdown began. Now, we get dinner on the bridge. Breakfast is hard to get, but someone gives us lunch and dinner daily," he says.

Next to him are cooks from different districts of Tamil Nadu who worked in Tiruchy in hotels or as part of catering groups. Due to the lockdown, they could not return.

The bridge is their home now. A cook from Darjeeling, too, sleeps on the bridge. There are some older men who wait for food, working as construction workers, plumbers, cooks and other odd jobs - some of these men cannot return due to friction at home.

"I have three sons, but all of them have abandoned me. So, I have been staying here for months," says a 70-year-old.

As they assuage each other's grief, vehicles laden with food arrive. The workers are served piping hot chapatis with dal. The food is prepared by a team from the collectorate and trusts like Gokula Samajam Charitable Trust.

Food is served to at least 400 to 500 people at the bridge, Amma Mandapam and across Srirangam.

"We prepare food for about 140 people daily. We give lunch and dinner. We have joined hands with the collectorate since 15 days to serve food at the bridge every night," said K Raghunathan of Gokula Samajam Charitable Trust.

The collector's office has been preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for these daily wage workers.

"About 200 to 300 packets of food come from the collectorate and 200 from volunteers. Food is being served on the bridge for 15 days. It is easy for them to maintain distance," said K Ramachandran, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Srirangam.

Food provided includes tomato rice, sambar rice, vegetable biriyani, lemon rice, chapati, kurma and dal Police also appreciated the discipline maintained by those receiving food.

"We are surviving only because of the food these Good Samaritans are giving us. Otherwise, there is nothing to look forward to the entire day," says Chinnaponnu, a daily wage worker.