On the occasion of Mother’s Day, Industrialist Anand Mahindra fulfilled his promise of gifting Tamil Nadu’s Idli Amma her own home. Mahindra earlier shared a tweet where he indicated that Idli Amma will soon have her own house to serve people her famous home-cooked food.
“Immense gratitude to our team for completing the construction of the house in time to gift it to Idli Amma on #MothersDay She’s the embodiment of a Mother’s virtues: nurturing, caring & selfless. A privilege to be able to support her & her work. Happy Mother’s Day to you all!” read his tweet’s caption with a video of the new place.
Immense gratitude to our team for completing the construction of the house in time to gift it to Idli Amma on #MothersDay She’s the embodiment of a Mother’s virtues: nurturing, caring & selfless. A privilege to be able to support her & her work. Happy Mother’s Day to you all! pic.twitter.com/LgfR2UIfnm
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) May 8, 2022
Netizens showered him with praise for the incredible gesture and wrote messages for Mother’s Day and Idli Amma.
Mother, an unparalled entity that words cannot define. 👌👌👌👌
— BALARAJU CACARLA (@balaraju_cs) May 8, 2022
So noble. Iam sure she would now have some respite while doing the selfless work she does. In a time where a simple Plate of idli is priced for rs 100 in most places, making it available at 1 rupee is philanthropic
— Prof Wingardium leviosa (@lost_untilfound) May 8, 2022
Cheers to you and idli Amma 👏🏽👏🏽🙏🏽#HappyMothersDay2022
Who is Idli Amma?
For the past 30 years, K Kamalathal (85) a.k.a. Idli Amma has been serving idlis for just Rs. 1 in Vadivelampalayam, on the outskirts of Coimbatore. Even when businesses gravely suffered under lockdown, she refused to hike prices and continued to sell at the same rate despite the losses she had to incur.
Seems for Kamalathal, fondly known as Paatima, age is just a number. She begins at 5 AM with prayer and goes to buy the ingredients for Sambar with her son. Then she grinds coconuts, salt, and other indigents in order to prepare chutney in an aatukallu (traditional hand grinder) all by herself which is never repeated and changes daily.
Amma uses a traditional mud stove for cooking idlis even today. Loyal to her work she opens her shop at 6 AM to welcome customers and closes at noon.
Also, read: At 77, This Gujjuben Works 80+ Hours A Week To Support Several Families
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Kamalathal had been finding it difficult to source ingredients, and find help to keep her business running. This is where migrant workers stepped in. They offered to help her, and many others started sending in raw material to ensure she can continue.
Anand Mahindra saw her incredible work and offered to help which he actually did today.