GUNTUR: Hailing from the small village of Gudivada near Kolakaluru of Tenali mandal in Guntur district, 107-year-old Mastanamma, till her death on Sunday, shot to fame with her YouTube videos of cooking a variety of dishes, be it ‘watermelon chicken curry’ or desi version of KFC. Till a couple of years ago, Mastanamma’s fame for her hospitality confined only to her village but after the videos of her dishes were uploaded on YouTube, her reputation crossed the borders.
It was around 2016 that her relatives from Hyderabad, who are into journalism, posted the videos of her culinary skills on YouTube. The videos went viral with more than 75,000 hits. Most of her recipes reminds people of their good old days when grandmothers would make a variety of mouth-watering dishes by using locally available ingredients.
Other reasons for her videos popularity were the proximity to nature, the readily available ingredients and, most importantly, her toothless grin.
Even till her death, Mastanamma used to do household chores apart from cooking all by herself, without any assistance from the younger generations of her family. She was well known in the locality for treating everyone, who came to her, with warmth like a typical Indian grandmother, by ensuring they were well fed.
WATCH: Mastanamma cooks drumstick curry with eggs
Mastanamma was married at a young age of 11 to KNagabhushan at Gudivada. They had three daughters and a son but all of them are no more. She worked in the paddy fields for her livelihood and used to take care of her children after the death of her husband when she was 22 years of age. Though all her relations lived in close proximity, Mastanamma continued to stay independently in her hut and cook food on her own. Though she died on Sunday, the news came to light on Tuesday and came as a shocker to those who are big fans of her recipes.
Speaking to TNIE, her grandson K Nagabhushanam said that Mastanamma passed away on Sunday and her final rites were performed the same day. “She lived with dignity and cooked delicious dishes till her last breath. She had not been in a position to walk for the past one year but she used to cook food to us,’’ he recalled.