During Ramadan, or Ramzan, when Muslims observe a fast between sunrise and sunset, relatives of patients admitted at Mumbai’s public hospitals find it difficult to get the sehri, the pre-dawn meal before the fast begins.
Unlike the iftar meal, which is taken to break the fast after sunset, sehri meals are not easily available for patients’ relatives as hospital canteens and restaurants are closed in the early hours of the day.
In Mumbai, groups of volunteers ensure that patients’ relatives do not miss the first meal of the day. One group from central Mumbai visits Mumbai’s main public hospitals like KEM, B Y L Nair, Lokmanya Tilak (Sion hospital), Kasturba, Wadia, and Tata Memorial at 4.00 am. They gather near the casualty wards and distribute around 600 to 700 meals before 5.00 am, just in time before Sehri.
The meal packets have a fixed portion of gravy, bread, a banana, and a sweet porridge. The group has no name and does not take donations from anyone. “We are a group of friends from all over south Mumbai and we pool the money to buy the food,” said Soheb Gopalani, one of the 60-odd members of the group.
Another group from places like Bhendi Bazaar distributes 200 to 250 meals at Sir J J Hospital, Byculla. Shahid Asrafi, a volunteer with the group said they provide meals to every needy person at the hospital, irrespective of religion. “Most people who take food from us are vegetarian. For this reason, we prepare only vegetarian meals. We provide eggs to those who may want them,” said Ashrafi.
Ashrafi’s group put the meals together the previous night. “One of us buys the bread; the others buy the egg or the ingredients for the tea. We distribute the food between 3.00 am and 4.00 am,” he added. “The work takes up the whole night, but we enjoy doing it.”
While Ashrafi’s group has been distributing meals since 2000, Gopalani’s group has been giving this service for the last 14 years. “We distribute sehri because shops and restaurants are not open during the early hours of the day. Iftar meals are easy to access because most mosques have an iftar dastarkhwan,” added Gopalani.
