At 70, visually-impaired jumps in to help
little encouragement from Padia’s daughter, locked down in Juhu, a suburb of Mumbai further up north, the women repeated their contributions a few days later. The thepla-making was part of a massive citywide drive organised by the nonprofit Circle of Love and Care.
The volunteer-run non-profit work is involved in activities as varied as building hospitals and schools to offering elder-care assistance and vocational training to underprivileged women. During the lockdown, they also set up meal deliveries for frontline medical workers, government officials and policemen.
Volunteers set up an open platform on Google Forms, mobilising contributions from residents. Housing societies signed up en masse, cooking as many theplas as they could, for contactless pick-up and distribution. The thepla is particularly well-suited to this kind of project. It’s small, dry and nutritious. It travels well, can be stored for days, and tastes good. You can chomp down on the go, without cutlery, without fuss. It was the food of choice in 2017, when another Mumbai nonprofit sent over 50,000 to flood-hit Gujarat. So it’s no surprise that Circle of Love and Care’s drive generated 25,000 theplas so start with. Across the 21-day project, 500 volunteers collected and passed on over 24 lakh homecooked theplas, neatly packed into sets of four.
The theplas, along with other snacks and beverages, reached over 9.81 lakh migrants, says Alpa Gandhi, 46, a volunteer with the group for 10 years. “Every community contributed, Muslims, Maharashtrians, Sindhis, even families who’d never made theplas before and got in touch for help with the recipe.”
In Matunga, Padia and Shah needed no instructions. “The ingredients and technique are secondary,” Padia said. “To make 60 good theplas, you first need the will.” They made their theplas extra thick, “so the migrants could get the most out of them”.
The women are close. Through the lockdown, the families have taken turns to host dinner once a week, to give each woman a break from the kitchen.
“We tell our neighbours things we don’t even share with relatives,” Padia said. “Making those theplas was a way to spend time together, and help the people who needed it. We can’t leave it all to the government, and if you want to help someone in need, nothing should stop you.”
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