The Harmony Foundation awarded Michelin star Chef Vikas Khanna and Chennai based Dr Pradeep Kumar for their acts of humanity during the pandemic.
Mumbai| The Harmony Foundation awarded Michelin star Chef Vikas Khanna and Chennai based Dr Pradeep Kumar for their acts of humanity during the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic made people around the world witness acts of kindness in different forms. During the pandemic and lockdown lakhs of migrants were rendered jobless and homeless. Without any work and roof to sleep under, many migrants found it hard to arrange for two square meals a day.
However, Michelin star Chef Vikas Khanna decided to aid the needy in these desperate times. Even from his residence in Manhattan, Mr. Khanna was moved by the plight of the migrants and the marginalised here in India and decided to overcome all barriers that he may help. Chef Khanna came forward with the #FeedIndia initiative by the influence of the langars of Amritsar and the philosophy of giving back to the society which was imbibed in him by his mother.
The FeedIndia Initiative started on a small scale by providing dry rations for orphanages, old age homes, and leprosy centres. Eventually, the project took off on a larger scale as they went on to provide cooked meals at highways, train stations and other places. Today, he has partnered with various companies to provide for millions of families across the nation. With the National Disaster Relief Force as his foot soldiers, he managed to distribute over 7 million packets of dry-food in over 100 cities in India.
The frontline workers, known as “Corona Warriors” are often the ones who we turn to while sick but they are the ones the society denounces when it comes to giving them a decent farewell during the pandemic.
During the first few weeks of the nationwide lockdown fear and paranoia regarding the effects of the coronavirus spread like wildfire across the country. It was during this time that Dr. Simon Hercules of the New Hope Medical Centre in Chennai passed away after he contracted COVID 19 from his patients. And while the city lived with fear, his friend and colleague Dr. Pradeep Kumar had no choice but to act with exemplary courage and take it upon himself to bury his friend. The ambulance driver and few corporation health officials were injured as the mob threw bricks, stones, bottles and sticks and chased them away despite the presence of police and they even stopped the burial at two cemeteries.
The windscreen of the ambulance in which the body of the 55-year-old neurosurgeon was brought to the crematorium was also smashed and even the casket was not spared. But, even during the chaos and lawlessness caused by an unruly mob that attacked him on the way to the cemetery Dr.Pradeep Kumar
kept his ground. Dr.Kumar an Orthopedic surgeon buried his colleague Dr.Simon, a Neurosurgeon with a shovel and the help of two ward boys at a cemetery in Chennai in the middle of the night despite being attacked by a mob over coronavirus fears.
“Putting his life on the line of danger to honour a departed colleague is indeed a high degree of sacrifice that has earned him a place in the pantheon of those who have distinguished themselves in the face of incredible odds,” Dr Abraham Mathai, Founder and Chairperson of Harmony Foundation said.
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