Community kitchen helps Mehsana Chandanki’s elders beat loneliness
Shardaben Patel with her son Ghanshyam Patel
The elders of Mehsana’s Chandanki village share their loneliness with Surat’s Mahidharpura.
Only about 500 people, most of them in the 55-85 age group – live here now compared to 1,100 about a decade ago. About 300 families have emigrated to the US, Canada and Australia.
A group of villagers runs Chandanki’s community kitchen here to give the elderly women with health issues some much-needed rest.
It is also the village’s antidote to loneliness.
The kitchen prepares meals twice a day for those who have subscribed to the monthly service that costs Rs 2,000 per person.
On a given day, 35-40 people have food in the solar-powered AC hall adjacent to the community kitchen. The number goes up during the weekend when youngsters living in the cities visit their aged parents.
The cooks hired by the villagers make the meals for a fixed monthly fee of Rs 11,000.
The lunch includes dal, rice, chapati, subzi, and a sweet dish.
For dinner, the villagers are served farsan, which includes methi gota, dhokla, and idli-sambar in addition to khichdi-kadhi and bhakri-roti-subzi.
Poonambhai Patel, 58, who supervises the community kitchen, had lived in New York for 20 years. His wife and daughter live in Ahmedabad.
“We started the kitchen because the elderly citizens residing here make food only once a day. They eat the same food in the evening and sometimes, even the next morning. It is not good for their health,” he said.
Ramesh Patel, 72, shifted from Ahmedabad to Chandanki after retirement. His son, Jigar, lives in Australia.
“We have more elders in the village now. To beat loneliness, we even have our meals together. Soon, we will have a park too. ”
