© Rohan Hande
Culture & Living
Vogue Warriors: Meet the film producer who wants to put food on every plate in Mumbai
Pragya Kapoor’s Ek Saath foundation is supplying ration kits as well as freshly-cooked meals to over 5,000 people every day
Film producer Pragya Kapoor grew up in a small village outside of Sweden. When she jogs her memory, her childhood seems punctuated with woodland cliches—climbing trees and walks in nature. At an early age, she was recycling and composting. So upon moving to India, she couldn’t help but notice the upsetting behavioural pattern towards the environment. “When my child told me, ‘Mamma, I do not like to walk on grass,’ I knew I had to take my lessons from childhood and put them into action,” says the former model.
Earlier this year, Kapoor started Ek Saath Foundation—her goal was to educate people and hold them accountable for the effects their actions have on the environment. “Our first project was a tree plantation initiative called 'Back to the Zoo'. The idea was to get people out of their homes with their family and friends, feel the soil and plant a life with their hands,” says Kapoor, whose organisation strives to create a sustainable community by undertaking initiatives such as ocean clean-ups (waste from which her NGO routes for recycling rather than dumping them in BMC landfills) and filtration of waterways among others.
But with the novel coronavirus putting most of the world in lockdown, even the NGO work was in a state of pause. Kapoor knew that her Ek Saath journey needed to continue, but with a shift in focus for the moment. Her goal now is to help the daily wagers who can no longer provide for their families as well as others who don’t know where their next plate of food will come from.
Survival instincts
On March 30, Ek Saath began its pandemic survival project. “Initially, we started with distributing food kits, then after tying up with Shah Rukh Khan’s Meer Foundation, we started providing daily meals,” says Kapoor, who has so far supplied over 5,000 kits to families in Govandi, Jogeshwari, Kurla, Dharavi, Colaba and Navi Mumbai and now plans to offer at least 5,000 freshly-cooked meals a day.
For Kapoor, supplying cooked meals came as an afterthought when she realised that many daily wagers relied on eating outside, with no cooking facilities at home. So sending ration kits had no purpose for them. “We wanted to ensure no one stays hungry, even those who call the streets their home and don’t have a chulah to cook,” she adds. For them, the reality of starvation, their inability to return to their villages and the possibility of sharing a small room with many people preceded their fear of catching the virus.
People power
Kapoor’s COVID-19 relief team at Ek Saath includes 15 core members, and as many volunteers. With two children, aged five and below, she is working from home, but constantly coordinating on the phone to ensure the NGO is running. “Our team works from home and on the ground; we have a group chat, where we put up pictures, updates on where the trucks have reached, the packages distributed and so on.” The team has been spending long hours packing the food, and ensuring timely deliveries. “The BMC is very supportive and helpful when it comes to getting permission and finding areas that have a shortage of supplies,” she adds.
The team also pays special attention to sanitation and hygiene. “Everything is cleaned and sterilised, kept in top quality kitchens or areas. We sanitise before we touch the food, and also provide gloves and masks to everyone we feed, and explain its necessity to them,” she adds.
Navigating a truck-full of food during lockdown can be a logistical nightmare, but the NGO’s systematic approach is helping in keeping the process calm. All those who are fed, register with their Aadhaar card (or a phone number and address, in case they don’t have documents) to monitor a fair distribution of the ration. “The team is working really hard to make sure the food goes through each and every home, while ensuring social distancing,” says Kapoor.
Even as Ek Saath continues to work on the ground, and offer transparency to their work on their social media accounts, they look for more people to join the efforts, even those sitting at home. You can join their cause by donating to their crowdfunding initiative on Ketto.
Vogue Warriors shines the spotlight on the women at the medical frontlines and essential services—doctors, nurses, scientists, innovators—alongside behind-the-scene heroes working tirelessly to help us through the ongoing pandemic.
Also read:
Vogue Warriors: Meet the women who used laughter to raise 25 lakhs in 48 hours for COVID-19 relief
