NEW DELHI: In Chandanki, a village tucked away in India’s Gujarat state, lunches and dinners are often a communal affair for its elderly population.
Every day, some 40 people gather in the community kitchen to share their meals, benefiting from an initiative that was designed to serve an aging group.
“It all started some 15 years ago,” Poonam Chunnilal Patel, the head of Chandanki village, told Arab News.
“Most people are old here. I am 60 years old, other people are 80, 90 and 95 years old,” he said.
“They were having problems arranging their lunches and dinners, so the villagers decided to do something about that. The kids who settled abroad or outside of the village decided to pitch in and open a community kitchen for these elderly people.”
Officially, Chandanki is a village of about 1,000 people, but most of the younger population reside in other parts of India or abroad, leaving behind their senior parents.
With two cooks on duty, the kitchen makes preparations for around 40 people every day and makes extra for the children who visit from time to time. They serve mainly Gujarati food, such as the Gujarati Thali, an assortment of dishes comprising rice, bread, fried snacks and vegetables.
“We take care of the cooks and we provide houses to them and give them good salaries,” Patel said.
The community kitchen has since served as a space to connect with others for many of the village’s elderly, like 86-year-old Raddilal Somnam Patel.
“The community kitchen is a lifeline for us. For people like us, it not only provides food but also keeps us connected with the people in the village,” Patel told Arab News.
Patel joined the community kitchen nearly a decade ago, not long after the death of his wife and only family. Since then, he has also been celebrating festivals and holidays with the rest of the village.
“It all started close to 15 years ago, and I really appreciate that this idea stuck with the people that time,” he said.
“By dining together, we remain connected, and the sense of loneliness does not impact us.”
