Anupria Goenka pitches for micro steps to battle intensifying hunger crisis amid the pandemic

Among several other setbacks, the ongoing pandemic is also fuelling the hunger crisis, and actor Anupria Goenka is using her time in the lockdown by helping in the mass kitchen and distributing food. She believes it’s important to start working on the micro level, instead of waiting for the government to take all the burden.

“This time, I kept wondering as to what must be happening to people on the streets. When we’re unable to look for an oxygen cylinder, a hospital bed, medicine, or injections, I can’t even imagine what must be happening to them,” Goenka tells us.

That pushed her to unite with her friends and form a small group to take freshly cooked food to the people struggling on the streets in Mumbai.

Sharing more about the initiative, she tells us, “My friend Nakul Sahdev (actor) started it, and then another friend, Amit, also joined, and then I saw how easy it was. I realised that rather than always looking for doing things on a bigger scale, if each one of us can do things at a micro level, things will change a lot.”

While Goenka, 34, reveals that a lot of people from the society came forward to help, and the chain got bigger step by step, she asserts that the worsening hunger crisis due to the pandemic is still a big cause to worry.

“When we take 50 packets of food, they fall less. And when we take 100 or 200 packets, they still fall less. During this crisis, it’s important to look at the issue, as so many people don’t have ways to earn and survive,” she notes, hoping for some help from the system, too.

“I hope the government starts doing something in terms of making ways wherein money or support reach these people directly. And apart from waiting for the government only to take all the burden, I feel each one of us should start working at a micro level,” she opines, also highlighting the issue of water scarcity that’s adding to these people’s plight.

Goenka urges all capable individuals to form small groups to help the needy, and do things at a micro level first than focusing on doing something big.

She explains, “If four or five people from each building get together, and start cooking on a regular basis, one can feed at least 20-30 people. Can you imagine how much of a help would that be?,” she says, further explaining, “If we leave some food packages outside our doors, someone can pick it up, and give it to the people in need. Or, if residential societies start using the open spaces to cook food, and deliver, I’m sure other people will join in the initiative and it’ll help many.”