While most people who live up to 100 years and beyond would simply hope to enjoy a well-earned retirement surrounded by friends and family, a fiercely independent tea estate worker in a remote corner of the Nilgiris, who is going strong at 102, runs one of the few stores on the way to the almost inaccessible Pakkasuran Malai near Coonoor, where people from more than seven hamlets come to pick up emergency supplies.
The woman, K. Rangathaal, who came to the Nilgiris more than 60 years ago when some of the tea estates were still owned by British planters, has been running the shop itself for more than 30 years.
If the residents in the hamlets miss the store being run by Ms. Rangathaal, they would have to walk more than 4 km to the road, and take a bus to pick up provisions. So, Ms. Rangathaal’s store serves as one of the stops where people can pick up essential items during an emergency.
Despite two of her four sons living nearby, Ms. Rangathaalsays she doesn’t want to rely on them, as she doesn’t wish to be a burden on their families. “Till I'm capable, I will work and make money selling whatever I can and living off the profits,” she says, pointing to her small ramshackle store which also doubles up as her bedroom on most days. Though she has poor vision, and walks very slowly, locals say she has great hearing and works very hard. Ramesh Kumar, a resident, says, “She always returns change correctly and remembers if someone owes her money.”
“It is because I have been working everyday of my life that I have managed to live for so long, but it’s becoming too difficult for me to continue. Some form of help from the government, in the form of an old-age pension would help,” says Ms. Rangathaal.