Octogenarian woman feeds the needy by selling pickle, after husband dies of COVID-19

By Joymala Bagchi
New Delhi [India], August 7 : In a bid to help people, an octogenarian woman who travelled to the national capital and lost her husband to COVID-19, has started a philanthropic initiative to provide meals to those in need.
So far, the 87-year-old woman has provided over 65,000 meals to people with an average of 2,500 meals per day in the last one month including some slum areas in Delhi, and with help of NGOs in Kolkata too.
This began when Usha Gupta travelled to Delhi to visit her daughters along with her husband Raj Kumar during the second wave of COVID-19. Soon after she and her husband got infected with the virus. Usha Gupta managed to recover while her 93-year-old husband succumbed to the infection.
It made her ponder on the need to help people/families suffering from COVID-19.
After discussions with her granddaughter Dr Radhika Batra, who heads a non-profit organisation named 'Every Infant Matters', the octogenarian started making pickle and selling them in Delhi and Kolkata with the help of NGOs. With this money, she fed the needy and impecunious families.
Gupta told ANI that she witnessed a lot of people who were in need during the time when she and her husband were undergoing treatment at a hospital in the national capital.
"When I and my husband were admitted to the hospital in April, I saw so many helpless people begging for help. Even my daughter and granddaughter used to tell me. It was then that I felt the need to do something. But at the age of 87, there's not much one can do. It is then the idea of making pickle and feeding the needy struck us," she said.
"I am very happy that although my efforts are a drop in the ocean, still I am able to help the people in their trying times," she added.
The strong-willed woman further said that she is also willing to teach cooking, household works absolutely free of cost to interested people in her spare time.
Gupta, who recovered from COVID-19 infection at the age of 87, said that she still feels extreme weakness and pain; however, her steadfast will and determination to help people in difficult times overrules every obstacle.
Dr Radhika Batra, a Pediatrician, while talking about her grandmother said, "It is stupendous to think about others at this age and that too with continuous grief of losing her husband. This definitely acts as an inspiration for my generation. Perhaps, having gone through a bad situation gives hope to do something to help others and in this process, we help ourselves."
As of now, Gupta makes four types of mango pickle which are nicely packed in glass jars with a note of blessings from her for the buyers.
As season changes or COVID-19 situation take turns her ideas will also evolve, but the drive to help will continue.