An automobile salesperson for 17 years,
Sarita Kashyap did not have enough funding to start a non-profit organization
but she had the intent to serve the poor and needy with her limited means. Life
had offered her various struggles but Sarita was determined to not dwell in the
sympathy of others. Instead, she started her own Rajma Chawal stall with her
limited savings. In her own words, she is not an efficient cook. She knows to
make only a few dishes in the kitchen but one thing that she does not lack is
her self-confidence and readiness to tread on any path ignoring the inhibitions
implanted by society.
After leaving her job in the automobile
sector in 2019, she indulged herself in the field of Network Marketing for some
time and lost all her savings in that. She could not be successful in that
field because it needs her to resort to dishonest means, which were against her
ethics. When she started her makeshift food stall - Apna Pann Rajma Chawal, she
did not even have enough utensils to make food and carry it from her home in
Meera Bagh to Peera Garhi bus depot in west Delhi. She travels in her scooter,
which has a portable table and carriers, where she carefully places large drums
of steaming Rajma-Chawal. Sarita loves driving and wishes to buy and drive a
jeep someday, which, according to her, can be used both for her personal and
business purpose.
Kashyap starts her day at 4 a.m. After
finishing her household chores, she prepares Rajma Chawal, salad, and chatni
for around 100 people. At around 11:30 a.m., she starts operating her stall at
Peera Garhi Bus Depot. The stall runs for around 3-4 hours. As she sets up her
stall at the bus stop, the local slum children wait at one side of her stall to
feast on delicious rajma chawal in aunty’s stall. Due to the taste of her food,
her kind behavior, and welcoming manner, and her honest initiative to feed
hungry road children, rag pickers, and homeless people, the entire food is
consumed fast, and generally, by 2 pm, Sarita closes her food stall. She
manages the operations single-handedly.
Within four months of its commencement,
Apna Pann’s food has become well known in the locality and hungry customers
line up at the location even before Sarita arrives. With half-plate priced at
Rs. 40 and full at Rs. 60, Sarita’s Rajma Chawal is a delicacy accompanied by
homemade chatni and onion salad. Her daily income was around Rs. 3,000-Rs 4,000
before lockdown. She spends a larger portion of it on providing free food to
street kids. She feeds her customers and hungry road children waiting in
separate queues at the same time.
Feeding the underprivileged motivates
Sarita to go on with her laborious daily duty. “I sell a minimum of 100 boxes a
day out of which almost 60 percent is sold to paying customers and the rest is
served for free to the children and homeless people,” says Sarita. Inspired by
her selfless act, many people donate money to feed hungry people on their
behalf. Kashyap has also been trying to educate these street children through
some basic tutoring. She admits the difficulties in doing so, but she is
determined to help them dream a better future. Thanking social media, Sarita
says, it has played a huge part in her success. After leaving her job, she used
to follow lots of motivational speakers on social media. When she started the
food stall, she did not have enough resources to feed enough street children as
she needed to survive and save money for her college-going daughter with that
income alone. With more people assembled in her stall due to her work being
promoted on social media, Sarita is now able to feed a good number of hungry
people for free at her food stall.
Apart from providing free food, Kashyap
plans to empower women by providing them with an opportunity to set up their
own food stalls. Sarita is working on the idea to supply her homemade food to
unemployed women who would then set up their stalls which will function on the
same lines as hers. It will give a sense of fulfillment to her to see more and
more women feeding the hungry while being able to earn. She is now planning to
start a home delivery segment of Apna Pann Rajma Chawal soon and is working on
acquiring the prerequisite food licenses. “If you can’t do the great things, do
small things in a great way” – West Delhi’s Sarita Kashyap is a living example
of that.
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