During this pandemic season as we are locked inside our homes, there is an insane tendency to eat junk food almost all the time. This is going to cause an unhealthy routine and affect our health. But, one man in Srinagar took it up as his calling to help people relish good food minus the junk part. Rayees Ahmad became known as ‘Kashmir’s Swiggy Boy’ amid this pandemic. This Kashmir man cooks and delivers homecooked meals at the doorsteps of locals. In this way, he helps society in Kashmir stay away from junk food. Read on to find out.
Rayees Ahmad Cooks & Delivers Homecooked Meals To Locals In Kashmir Through His Venture Tiffin Aaw
Rayees Ahmad, from Srinagar, took the responsibility to serve fresh home-cooked food with his venture Tiffin Aaw ( Meal has come). Popular now as ‘Kashmir’s Swiggy Boy’, he told IndiaTimes that the idea of Tiffin Aaw started last year after the abolishment of Article 370. His friend called him at night and told him he hadn’t eaten since morning and asked for his help. Rayees told IndiaTimes, “I entered the kitchen, packed the food in a tiffin box and left to drop the order at his office on my two-wheeler…After collecting the tiffin box a few days later, it was banging in the bag and the idea clicked my mind that this is something I need to do”.
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Thus began his journey to keep people away from unhealthy junk food and serve them delicious home-cooked Kashmiri delicacies. He said that Tiffin Aaw started taking orders from February till March 18. But he suspended his operations due to the pandemic. However, he recently Rayees received a call from Kashmir-based doctor in Delhi, requesting him to prepare food for his elderly parents as he was out of station. That was the encouragement he needed to resume his services.
Tiffin Aaw Employs People Who Lost Their Jobs Due To The Pandemic
Tiffin Aaw today is a team of five people. Rayees added, “All of them lost their jobs after the pandemic outbreak but recently we engaged back a chef who was in dire need of a job. We will accommodate others soon.” When asked about his popular nickname as the ‘Kashmir’s Swiggy Boy’, he said, “I have never been inspired by the Zomato or Swiggy as this was my own idea. It is also because people here don’t get services like Swiggy and others and then they may be treating my service same like them.”
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Tiffin Aaw Serves Thalis With Traditional Kashmiri Delicacies Costing ₹100
Rayees Ahmad sells food at minimum rates to make it affordable to everyone. Earlier, a single thali from Tiffin Aaw cost ₹80. But now due to an increase in packing costs caused by the pandemic, they charge ₹100. Customers can gorge on both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes here. In fact, Rayees also serves traditional Kashmiri dishes like Alhach Maz, Al-Yakin, Haak Maaz etc. Apart from serving homecooked people at people’s doorsteps, Rayees also delivers food at various city hospitals, hostels, quarantine centres and banks.
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Rayees Ahmad Delivers Food To Hospitals, Banks While Wearing PPE Kit
Keeping safety in mind, he wears a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kit and follows the proper COVID-19 SOPs while delivering food in his car. Rayees plans to take Tiffin Aaw across India. He plans to reach out to all districts of Jammu & Kashmir within 6 months. The young lad’s endeavours also include building a mobile app for Tiffin Aaw and employing educated youth who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
Well, we salute this youth who is indeed Kashmir’s superhero during this time of crisis. Meanwhile, take a virtual tour to Srinagar, India’s heaven on earth.