Paritosh Pant, 29
Restaurateur, Too Much Drama

When the lockdown was announced on March 22, chef-restaurateur Paritosh Pant, 29, was one of many who spent hours in the kitchen showing off his cooking skills on Instagram. One day, when he was baking pav, he realised that lakhs were going hungry.

His next post on social media was not about his dinner, but the idea to adopt and empower a community by setting up a kitchen that would distribute meals to residents going hungry in the neighbourhood. The Powai resident, who owns the Too Much Drama restaurant chain, had to shut the Kharghar outlet due to the pandemic. But his experience in hospitality came handy elsewhere. A man named Sajid Khan replied to his post. Associated with a political party, he shared the plight of people in Govandi. The idea attracted like-minded people: a high court lawyer friend helped with paper work, a copywriter offered to help with communication. "Within five days, the kitchen was set up using video call coordination," says Pant.