Kerala is often called “God’s own country”. While so far, there’s been one primary reason linked to this beautiful adage owing to the awe-inspiring, scintillating natural beauty found here, there could actually be a profound reason for calling India’s southern wonderland by that gorgeous nickname.
What about kindness and selflessness? We know the Keralites to be well read and very educative, but what about them being kind and sincere?
It might be that due to the sheer simplicity of people here that Kerala gets its legendary moniker. And few other people might actually live up to this than an old lady who’s considered an excellent cook located at a close distance from the Kollam station in Kerala.
Wondering why, here’s what you ought to know.
It turns out that the said old lady is an excellent cook, and a real master at making delightful and scrumptious traditional delights such as fried mackerel, pearlspot fry and, Malabar-induced prawn curry.
Based out of a small, budget hotel- nothing too fancy, nothing too compelling- the old lady is a famous individual who’s supposed to be a sheer magician when it comes to preparing some finger-licking good Malayalam food. Single-handedly running the restaurant located close to famous Kollam railway junction, at about a distance of 2 km, Yashodamma is revered and respected for never turning away a hungry person.
Mostly those who eat at Yashodamma’s eatery happen to be passerby’s and students and those who are commuting from Kollam to other places in close vicinity.
Money, something that governs the way often behave and drives our every-day pursuits, is the last thing on the mind of Yashodamma, who should be accredited as a real treasure from Kerala. Whether you like Fish fry, fish curry, cooked tapioca or any other delight- this lady’s mere intent is to cater to hungry travellers, visitors and locals.
What’s more? She isn’t concerned with charging a fixed sum of money in return of preparing some amazing food which surely could be worth thousands in any fine-dining or expensive restaurant in India’s thriving cosmopolis’ whether you speaking of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or any other city.
The main criterion for eating at a rather ordinary looking asbestos roofed eatery is to serve hungry visitors with some amazing food and take just whatever they are comfortable with paying. Really! Who does that in today’s day and age? Meals such as Puliserry, thoran, chamanthi and even pickle with rice are a huge draw for locals who swear by this real unsung jewel from Kerala.
But the kind-hearted lady accepts with great earnestness that if she were rich, she wouldn’t have asked for anything in return for making sure that no one who visits her goes hungry. Her story was fortunately published in the revered Southern media outlet Matrhubhumi. To this day, having run her eatery for the past 12 years, Yashodamma insists that there’s nothing more beautiful and dear to her than feeding hungry people some food.
But what makes Yashodamma inspiring and worthy of praise is that despite coming from a struggling economic background, she’s hardly slowed down on her work, which is backed by a truly pure intent. Despite having lost her husband around 12 years back, Yashodamma has been working with unswerving focus and has dedicated her life to feeding people without focusing too much on the financial returns her work fetches. If that’s not inspiring then one wonders what is?