Cooking food for the “family” during the lockdown has just got bigger. Now, there are almost always extra portions being made at many household kitchens, some for those staying all alone without any support system in the neighbourhood; and some for the support staff staying at the apartment complex.
“A bachelor reached out to me as we were not allowing cooks to enter the apartment premises and he did not know how to cook, so we created a WhatsApp group and half-a-dozen residents were ready to serve this individual food by turns,” says Jhansi Marshel, a resident of Inseli Park, a gated community on Old Mahabalipuram Road.
She soon found out that many medical students and doctors staying at the community were facing a similar challenge. The respective blocks started making an extra meal to reach out to their closest neighbour. The Sunderesans staying in another block served food for a medical student for three to four days before he moved to the hostel. As some had provisions stocked, people visited homes to cook in their kitchen.
At Velachery, the Krishnamurthys are grateful their “cook” Parameswari M., who is actually living in a next-door apartment, has been helping them in spite of this crisis. The family of three has a septuagenarian mother and a visually-challenged adult, and cannot do without a help.
“I look at it as helping an extended family. I made cooking a profession as my husband and daughter are away at work; and I was keen on putting my cooking skills to good use,” says Parameswari.
At Pammal Court in Purasawalkam, residents take turns to serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea to the three support staff working for the 20-unit apartment complex. It started on day one of the lockdown and still continues. Message on who is preparing for the day is notified at least a day in advance on the WhatsApp group. The residents have also opened their community hall for the watchman to stay.
