Taking the café experience to the city’s underprivileged children

On March 4, Seva Café will set shop there and volunteers are welcome too. 

Inspired by popular chain of restaurants like ‘Karma Kitchen,’ where they serve food on ‘payit-forward’ basis, Yogesh Parmar, a behavioural scientist, came up with the idea of taking the café experience to the underprivileged children in the city. With his friends Kunal and Rudresh, he gave shape to the Seva Café endeavour. 

“We wanted to bring the café feel and connect to children who cannot otherwise visit such places,” said Yogesh. Last September, a team of 60 volunteers of Seva Café treated the girls of Arun Home, a government-aided shelter in Purasawalkam. The girls were in for a pleasant surprise as the team took over the kitchen, decked up the premises and engaged the children with games and other activities including a rangoli competition while preparing delicious delights. 

“Earlier, we were a reactive group, reaching out to the needy on an ad-hoc basis. We distributed relief materials during disasters. But we felt love and affection missing in these acts. It was then we decided to be pro-active and thought why not go to such homes and spend time with the children using food as a medium. As everyone gets involved, the entire experience becomes meaningful,” said Yogesh who had recently relocated to Bengaluru to set up an office. 

Stating that his activities were still based in the city, Yogesh added that the Seva Café team dishes out the kind of food one would have in a restaurant. Lemon mint cooler, French fries and smiley fries with mayonnaise, white alfredo pasta with green vegetable galore, dum aloo with puri, curd rice and ice-cream with jelly were some of the items made by the team for the girls in Arun Home. 

“During the cooking process, the volunteers interacted with the children. They felt the connection. The children asked a lot of questions and wanted to be heard,” said, Yogesh who also imparts meditation techniques to the children. “In the complexity of the modern world, the children will need it and this is the greatest gift,” he added. 

“It was a totally different experience for the children and the staff. They saw men and women helping out in the kitchen without any differences. The food items they prepared, like pasta, were also new to them,” said V R Vanajaa state program Manager – Tamil Nadu, Rainbow Foundation India- Arun Home.