Old Ending Into New Beginnings

Meet this old woman K Kamalathan. She is 80 and at this age, she is running her own shop.

Now, you must be wondering, what shop is she running?

It may be a general store, chai, samosa, etc. kind of stuff.

No.

She is running a shop where she sells Idli.

What stunned in that?

This might be your next question.

She is running the idli shop where she sells idli for just 1 Rs.

Now, you must be astonished.

Ain't you?

K Kamalathal runs a shop from her house at the age of 80.

What does she do? Every morning she opens her doors to customers and sells fluffy, yummy idlis with delicious sambhar and chutney for just Rs 1.

Kamalathal is up before the sun rises. She takes a bath, performs her daily prayers and goes to the farm with her son to collect fresh vegetables. She brings out the aatukallu all by herself, puts in fresh coconut, salt, and other ingredients to make chutney. She chops the vegetables required to make sambar, puts them in a pot and sets it on the firewood stove to cook. The previous night she had kept the idli batter ready.

At 6 am every day, this resident of Vadivelampalayam near Perur in Tamil Nadu opens the doors of her house to customers. Her loyal patrons line up to savor the fluffy idlis with piping hot sambar and spicy chutney for just 1 rupee per idli. She runs her shop from her house.

Amidst the chaos, she welcomes us with a smile. While she maneuvers across the rooms carrying a bucket of sambar and a plate of idli, you are sure to be left surprised at how quickly she serves everyone. “I started selling idlis 30 years ago in Vadivelampalayam. I belong to a farming family. Every day, my family members would work on the farm leaving me behind. I was alone, bored and wished to start making idlis for the locals. Now I have loyal patrons in daily wage laborers who stop by to have a healthy breakfast at a nominal price,” says Kamalathal.

Having grown up in a household where they used the traditional stone grinder to make batter and masalas, Kamalathal decided to continue the same when she started the business. She did not find the need to purchase a wet grinder. “As I was raised in a joint family, cooking for a large number of people was not difficult for me. I wash and soak the ingredients the previous day in a vessel and grind them in the evening. It takes around four hours to grind six kilos of rice and urad dal for the idli batter. I let it ferment overnight and use it the next morning. I prepare fresh batter every day,” she shares.

Kamalathal sells idlis till noon. She is a multi-tasker — she pours the batter in a three-tier idli maker to prepare a fresh batch of idlis, serves chutney and sambar to those who need, and tells us, “The vessel can make 37 idlis in one round. I sell around 1,000 idlis every day.

Just imagine, at the age of 80, K Kamalathal is up before the sun rises. She reportedly started selling idlis 30 years ago in Vadivelampalayam.

She is used to cooking for a large number of people as she grew up in a joint family. She does most of the work manually and it takes her four hours to grind all the ingredients for idli batter, which she does in the evening and uses the next morning after it has been fermented. She makes sure to prepare fresh batter every day.

She reportedly sells around 1,000 idlis every day! Till 10 years ago, she sold idli for 50 paise and over the years she has increased the price to just Re 1.

She realizes that most people in Vadivelampalayam come from a lower-middle-class background or financially deprived background. In such a case even paying Rs 15-20 bucks for a plate of idli every day is hard for them.

Does she manage to make a profit? Marginally yes. But that is not her priority. Even when some have asked her to hike the price she refuses to do so, because she sells idlis to the poor, needy and hungry.

She is doing such noble work even at the age of 80. More power to her.