Cheering from the sidelines

These good Samaritans are encouraging volunteers and frontline workers in their endeavours, proving that kindness is indeed contagious

Stay away from doomscrolling, they say. But at a time when the battle against the coronavirus is being fought on social media and messaging apps — rallying volunteers, sharing resources, hunting down hospital beds and oxygen cylinders — it’s tough to stop that thumb from moving. And occasionally, you chance upon small glimmers of joy. Like a 12-year-old baking cookies under #BakeForIndia, to collect funds for Covid relief, or a philanthropist donning a PPE suit just to bring food to street dogs, or neighbours pitching in to make sure an isolating family gets to celebrate a birthday. Delhi-based chef Eeshaan Kashyap, for instance, has been making frittatas, flat breads, and even a dhokla‘cake’ for friends who’ve not been able to cook their own meals. His most recent success story: a decadent banana bread with chocolate chunks for children whose parents have tested positive and were getting antsy by themselves. “Now a lot of people have got in touch, asking if I could bake for them. So I make something twice a week for them,” says Kashyap. But who is celebrating these volunteers? As the second wave grows in intensity, people are stepping up with little gestures of kindness to acknowledge the tremendous work others are doing. From free brownies and haircuts for plasma donors to free therapy sessions, there’s plenty of goodwill out there. We highlight a few. With inputs from , and