During the first day of Highwaytoswades Mahesh took us to eat at Reddy Amma’s Mess in Tirupati. Reddy Amma is a senior citizen who owns and runs the place. Although she started the mess to meet two ends meet, today she is a business woman, a local power lord and famous for her Naidu cuisine!
She sits outside her mess on a parchment and you have to tell her what you want to eat before you enter the mess, once you enter you can not change your mind. She runs the business successfully and on her own terms.
Reddy Amma represents many women who start their own business for livelihood but are not captured in the nation’s accounting and GDP, because they are the unorganised sector.
Here in this pic with her, Reddy Amma gave me a big hug when explained that I too ran a business of my own. That made her very happy, and then she said to me, but please tie your hair, it will look nice… Clearly, despite all the hardships she’s borne, and the tough life she leads even today, she’s still in touch with her feminine side!!
ps. Reddy Amma qualifies for various senior citizen schemes, but she doesn’t want any of them, and is proud of her business and herself!
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[…] met three very different people – Reddy Amma, Vijay Naidu, and K Srinivas Raju – each in three very different places in life – […]