At an age where people take bed rest and wakes up late in the morning or sometimes in the afternoon, K Kamalathal wakes up even before the sun rises. She takes a bath, performs her daily prayers and then goes to the farm with her son to collect fresh veggies.
She brings out the traditional hand grinder all by herself and she puts in fresh coconut, salt and other ingredients to prepare chutney. She cuts the vegetables required to make sambar, puts them in a pot and then sets it on the firewood stove to cook.
At 6 am each day, this resident of Vadivelampalayam near Perur in Tamil Nadu gives space for customers in her house. Her loyal patrons line up to savour the fluffy and puffy idlis with hot sambar and spicy chutney for just 1 rupee per idli. She runs her shop from her house only.
“I started selling idlis 30 years ago in Vadivelampalayam. I belong to a farming family. Every day, my family members would work in 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 labourers who stop by to have a healthy breakfast at a nominal price,” says Kamalathal.
Having grown up in a household where they used the conventional stone grinder to make batter and masalas, Kamalathal planned to continue the same when she started the business. She did not find the need to afford 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.
Even at an elderly age, Kamalathal sells idlis till noon. She possesses a multi-tasking ability where she pours the batter in a three-tier idli maker to prepare a fresh batch of hot and delicious idlis, serves chutney and sambar to those who need. She says: “The vessel can make 37 idlis in one round. I sell around 1,000 idlis every day. Ten years ago, one idli was priced 50 paise and I increased it to 1 rupee a few years back.”
While the chutney changes regularly, Kamalathal makes it a point to only serve mixed vegetable sambar. She serves the food on teak leaves or banyan leaves, which are also taken from their farm.
“Most of the people residing near Vadivelampalayam come from a lower-middle-class background or are economically backward. They are all daily wage workers. In such a case, it is hard for them to pay Rs 15 or Rs 20 for a plate of idli every day for breakfast.
In other hotels, they serve three or four idlis per plate and that’s not enough for their physical labour. So, I focus only on satisfying their hunger. Hence, I priced my idlis at 1 rupee. This will also help them save some money for their family. I get profits, but the margin is less,” she explains.
She is not interested in hiking the price of idlies even after many people’s suggestion because she is doing it for the poor and needy people.
Meanwhile, in this nationwide coronavirus lockdown, Coimbatore’s very own Idli grandma suffered massive loss to business. However, she didn’t increase price of idly.
Meanwhile, several well-wishers decided to step forward and help the elderly woman. The Bharathiar University came to her assistance with University Vice-Chancellor Dr P Kaliraj donating food and some grocery kits.
Meanwhile, even in these difficult times, Kamalathal continues to sell idlis for Rs 1 each. She told India Today, “The situation has been a little difficult since corona started but I have been trying my best to provide the idli at Rs 1. I won’t raise the price of my idli. There is an increase in the price of every commodity. There are more people coming. Many migrant labourers are stuck here and so there are more people coming. There are people who are coming and helping me. They are providing essentials and I am using that to make Rs 1 idlis.”