Cancer survivor vrooms on at 70 with her 'sweet' business

"PARISHRAMAM cheyyukil enthineyum vashathil aakkan kazhiyulla vannam dheerghangalaaya kaikale nalkiyittanu manushyare paaril ayachathe Eeshan." — K C Kesavapilla

- TEXT & PICS: VINCENT PULICKAL

This roughly means God sent humans to earth after giving them hands capable of bringing anything under their control through hard work. Rama Kumari, now 70, has lived by this belief her entire life.

She calls it her policy, a philosophy that helped her endure even the toughest situations without giving up in her life.

"We were six children, four girls and two boys. Our family was not financially well-off, but I was fortunate to get an education. After completing my pre-degree, I did an ITI course and learned typing, like many others back then. The only goal after that was to secure a government job. I tried, but it never happened," says Rama.

So she decided to set up a bakery business in 1987 at the age of 28, with a loan of ₹20,000 under a government self-employment scheme. Her inspiration to start a bakery came from her brother, who had launched a similar venture. "I thought it was a good business and decided to start one on my own at Amaravila," she recalls.