By: Priyamvada Sharma & TN Mohammed Ishan NEW DELHI: If food is a love language, it has spoken freely at Jantar Mantar.Samosas, pizzas, kadhi chawal, medicines and more have arrived for the protesters through Swiggy and Zomato orders made by supporters from across the country.On Wednesday, a golgappa cart arrived. Serving the protesters golgappas was the idea of Arish Malik and Divyanshi Dikshit, students from Greater Noida. Their friends, Syed Muddabir and Tybha Zargar, who flew in from Kashmir, joined them in the endeavour.The four bought the entire stock of a golgappa seller and asked the vendor to park his cart close to the site. “Everyone is fond of golgappas. That’s why we bought bhaiya’s entire stock,” Arish said.Tybha, who appeared for the NET 2024 exam, which got cancelled, said she stood in solidarity with the NEET aspirants.The food deliveries somehow reach the protesters who need them. Delivery riders reach the barricaded Tolstoy Marg, where they hand the packages over to people heading to the protest.The supporters either distribute the food or drop the packets at designated spots. Rahul, Satyam and Kunal, who are manning one of these drop-off points, said they had received food for over a week but the deliveries surged since July 20.Naresh, a delivery rider, said this was his third round of Jantar Mantar Wednesday. He had brought samosas, burgers and thalis. “Most orders are by people outside Delhi,” he said.The protest has brought people together. Joginder Singh Madan, who does langar seva at a Delhi hospital, and Waqar Khan met at the food and medicine booth where they are volunteering since Day 1. “These students are our children. We support their demands and want accountability,” Khan said.“Everyone across the country has come together to send or bring food and medicines. Distributing them is our seva,” Madan said.People have also walked in with food. Shani Malik (25), from Noida, brought homemade kadhi chawal, chhole and burgers. He said the police action on the students deeply affected him.Shiv, 21, and Anshul, 20, students of DU, have volunteered to pick up wrappers and plastic waste on Tolstoy Marg. “We appeal to people to maintain the peaceful character of this protest. It is its greatest strength,” Shiv said.
