Idli Amma - Yet another ‘Maseeha’ to poor people

Lockdown amid corona pandemic has made many lives miserable as people have lost their jobs, they are forced to go back to their villages. People are suffering morally, financially and physically too, as many of them are not even getting food to eat. In such drastic situation there are few people who can be called ‘Maseeha’ for poor people. One such person is 85-year-old woman Kamalathal. A Tamil Nadu resident is famous for serving idlis for only Re 1. During lockdown even after suffering huge losses she refused to hike prices and continues to sell at the same rate of Re. 1.

K Kamalathal is known as ‘Idli Amma’. She has been running her business for the last 30 years in Vadivelampalayam, on the outskirts of Coimbatore. Since the day corona virus has started effecting us, although Kamalathal has been finding it difficult to buy ingredients, but she somehow managed to regulate her work so that her good deed don’t get affected. Her sincere efforts were paid off when migrant workers have offered a helping hand, and many people have started sending in raw material to ensure she can continue her social work.

While asking how her day starts, Kamalathal proudly says, her each day begins at 5 am with prayer. Then, she goes to buy the ingredients for Sambar with her son. Once she is back from market, she grinds coconuts, salt and other indigents in order to prepare chutney in an aatukallu (traditional hand grinder).

The most interesting part of Idli Amma’s kitchen is to keep people’s interest in her food, she changes chutney daily. It’s amazing to see that Idli Amma still uses the traditional mud stove for cooking idlis. She loves serving needy people. Her shop opens at 6 in the morning and by afternoon her whole lot for the days gets sold.

Thanks to social media that her great work got uploaded in the story of the octogenarian and got noticed many notable personalities offering help. Business tycoon Anand Mahindra expressed an interest in ‘investing’ in her business by buying her an LPG stove on his Twitter account.

Later, Tamil Nadu government provided Idli Amma alias Kamalathal with an LPG connection, so that she can serve as many as needy people with delicious idlis and make us understand the importance of Re.1.