The Spirit of Dunedin: Little India feeds flood victims

Some people just react instinctively in emergencies, and that was certainly the case for Dunedin restauranteur Subhash Kaushal during last week’s flooding, when he and his staff provided free meals for those being housed in emergency shelter at the Forsyth Bar stadium.

Crux Dunedin was alerted through a local Facebook Page to the community spirit shown by the Little India Dunedin staff members and we went to chat to owner Subhash Kaushal - we found there was even more to the story.

On the day of the rain event, Mr Kaushal, a South Dunedin resident himself, had just gone with his cousin to get some of the sandbags being given out at the Dunedin Ice Skating Stadium.

“Then suddenly, the news came through about Surrey Street being evacuated.”

He immediately wanted to help and so put a post up on social media.

“I rang my staff and said, look guys, there’s a situation. I’ve just put it on Facebook - if anyone comes, don’t charge them for their meal.”

Taking dietary requirements into consideration, chefs prepared biriyani for any customer that came in free of charge, whether or not they were affected by the floods.

“A lot of people came on that night and we delivered until 2.20am. The next day I rang the council because I knew people had been evacuated from Surrey Street and transferred to Forsyth Barr Stadium and I knew I could help. I approached the council and they said Ok.”

The council confirmed there were 60 people in the evacuation centre, so staff cooked enough for everyone and delivered the free meals to the stadium.

Dunedin Little India front of house staff member Anmolpreet Singh Ghuman, centre, with chefs Arvind Kumar and Jatinder Singh.)

Mr Kaushal says a lot of people had come to thank him in the following days but adds he is the the thankful one.

“Dunedin people have been supporting Little India Dunedin for 34 years. They are the ones that who have made us strong.

“We are proud of Dunedin and its people, without them supporting us we would not survive. We have had Covid and a recession but we have been through those without a hurdle because of our regular clients and loyal people.”

He says he did not think providing free food was anything out of the ordinary, noting in his home-state of Punjab in India, there is a Sikh temple that feeds thousand every day without asking for payment.

“In my childhood we used to go there, and in my society and our culture, it’s all about humanity.”

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Main image: Little India Dunedin owner Subhash Kaushal