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Grandmother’s tale
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At 108, Saraswathi Ammal’s zest for life is still intact. How she lived on her own for so many years makes an extraordinary story
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Photo: M. Karunakaran
HUMOUR AND HUMILITY Saraswathi Ramasamy Naidu at Vishranthi, Palavakkam
Everyone does not get to live through the whole of a century and into the next. Saraswathi Ammal was born in 1900 and is still going strong. Living long has not taken its toll on her sense of humour. Sitting on the verandah of Vishranthi, a home for the aged at Palavakkam, Saraswathi peppers accounts about her unusually long life with jokes. As she is toothless, her words are a bit garbled. Otherwise, there is no difficulty following her extraordinary story.
As her links with relatives were tenuous, Saraswathi had to fend for herself following her husband’s unnatural death, sixty years ago. Prior to this tragedy, she had been living in Delhi. Without children (“I had four of them, but lost all of them at an early age”) or grandchildren to lean on, she came to Tamil Nadu. She made Pattukottai her home after unsuccessful attempts to settle down elsewhere.
Dogged by poverty, she approached a bank to sell her thali. “As the bank officials wanted the chain melted, I gave it to someone who could do it. Claiming that the chain was useless, the man cheated me,” she says, adding, “He died in three months.” She is however remorseful about having said that. Occupying a piece of poramboke land, she led her life teaching school students. She was not on the payroll of any educational institution, but taught weak students after class hours. As she knows English, Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil and Marathi, she could impart language skills to them. Interestingly, teachers at these schools did not see her as a threat. “They felt I was complementing their work.” Saraswathi is grateful to her father Chidambaram Naidu for educating her. While she has no problem mentioning her father’s name, she is coy about mentioning her husband’s. Her denial is accompanied by a giggle that belies her age. “I didn’t even tell the Collector his name,” she explains. Finding a way out, she writes down “Ramsamy Naidu”, her husband’s name. Saraswathi was seven, and Ramsamy, 12, when they got married.
Following in Ramsamy’s footsteps, she joined the Freedom Movement. “He spent all his money for the struggle.” She, however, has always avoided receiving favours as a freedom fighter. It is amazing how she managed on her own for so many years.
Four years ago, she began to experience the difficulties of old age. Around that time, filmmaker Visu introduced her to Vishranthi, which has been her home ever since.
Saraswathi addresses Savithri Vaithi, chairperson of Vishranthi, as “my mother” and even bends to touch her feet. When Savithri, more than 30 years younger than her, protests, Saraswathi says, “Age does not matter. People with a kind heart deserve respect.”
Humility at 108 is touching!
PRINCE FREDERICK
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