In today’s time, when everything is so expensive and a decent simple meal does not come for less than 15-20 bucks, news about a lady selling idlis for just 1 rupee seems almost mythical! In Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore, an 80-year-old woman in Vadi Velampalayam sells 1 idli for Rs.1 with complimentary sambar and chutney. The lady, Kamalatho has been selling idlis since the past 30 years.
Every day in the morning she opens her shop to sell tasty idlis with sambar and chutney for just Rs.1. Her loyal patrons line up to savor the fluffy idlis with piping hot sambar and spicy chutney. She runs her shop from her house. She does almost all the work related to the cooking manually. It took her four hours to grind all the ingredients for idli batter. Unlike the hotels that use the previous day’s prepared better, she makes sure to prepare fresh batter every day. Her day starts even 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 prepares fresh coconut chutney and sambar every day along with the idlis.
“I started selling idlis 30 years ago in Vadi Velampalayam. 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 sells around 1,000 idlis every day! Till 10 years ago, she sold one idli for 50 paise, but over the years she has increased the price to just Re 1. Most people residing near Vadivelampalayam come from a lower-middle-class background or financially deprived background. She says that paying Rs 15-20 bucks for a plate of idli every day is hard for them. Keeping that in mind, she sells idlis for just Rs.1. On being asked if she makes any profit by selling idli along with sambar and chutney at such a low cost, she replied that it 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.
It is really a great move by the lady to offer a healthy home-cooked meal at such a low cost. We wish her more power and may her tribe increase!
