KOCHI: It was 2.30 am. As the alarm clock buzzed, 70-year-old Sarojini Amma was already awake. Without wasting time, she finished her morning chores before proceeding to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and lunch for about 20 people.
For the past four years, Sarojini Amma has been making breakfast, lunch and dinner for people in the neighbourhood- all to make ends meet. Her granddaughter has a birth defect, and in her 30s, needs assistance all the time. One of her sons met with an accident and is immobile.
“I was the family cook at advocate Kunji Rama Menon’s home. Cooking has been our family’s job for decades. My father Kunjunni Nair was a famed cook for weddings at our native place near Puthoormadam,” says the septuagenarian.
By 7am, Sarojini Amma is ready with the packed tiffin boxes. By 7.30am, she finishes delivering breakfast and lunch to homes around Thali, Challappuram and Kallayi. Her customer list includes offices around Thali temple too.
The menu is rich. While weekly breakfast includes puttu, idiyappam, upma, kozhukatta and vellappam, the lunch is usually rice with two curries, buttermilk and pappad. For dinner, it is appam or chappathi with masala curry, kuruma or dal, all prepared in traditional style.
She charges Rs 50 per meal. Many customers don’t mind paying extra for the food she prepares.