Need doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. For most in the country who are rushing to buy induction stovetops, or paying four to five times more for LPG cylinders in black, their need is hoarding extra security for themselves. In some kitchens, though, when the stove goes cold, need manifests as hundreds of growling bellies that may not get another meal for days to come. 

We live in an era where cooking is never thought of as a luxury, and yet so many have neither a roof above their head, nor the agency to feed themselves. Forgotten by society and system, their only hope is a few heroes without capes — running food banks, langars, and charitable hostels — who have vowed to never let the city’s poor go hungry.