It was in May 2020, a time when the entire nation was reeling under the outbreak of COVID-19, that Nanma Vandi made it first trip.
An initiative of four friends who wanted to do their bit during the pandemic, the van used to distribute provision kits to 19 families with HIV positive members for one year.
And in 2021 February, they started taking breakfast to the destitutes in Oachira bus stand and patients and bystanders in TB Hospital, Karunagappally.
Four friends
Biju Muhammed, an employee of Karunagappally municipality, Abdul Shukkur, high school teacher, Thodiyoor Santhosh, entrepreneur and Haris Hari, photographer are the friends who joined hands to start Nanma Vandi.
“Today, we completed 200 days of our free breakfast distribution. A lot of patients from Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and eastern parts of Kollam come to the TB Hospital for treatment. Most of them wait for our van every day and we feed around 70 persons daily,” says Mr. Muhammed.
Breakfast
Nanma Vandi arrives with breakfast around 8 a.m. with a bunch of plantain leaves to distribute the food. Instead of handing over food packets, they serve the food and wait for some time to make sure that nobody needs second helpings. “Usually, no hospital or voluntary organisation will provide quality cooked food for breakfast. It is easy to opt for bread or porridge, but we wanted to give tasty and homely food,” he adds.
The menu includes a range of items from string hoppers and pathiris to vegetable kuruma and chicken curry.
The friends have hired a cook to prepare the food everyday, as they didn’t want to depend on restaurants. “We use home-ground masalas to make the food, as we are very particular about its quality. During lockdown, we used to distribute food to all persons including COVID-19 patients who approached us.”
Though it was started with the savings of the four friends, later a lot of people came forward to sponsor the food.
