No food, no place to sleep: Old couple in CM Stalin's Kolathur constituency marooned in woes

With no income these days, the couple live on three idlis bought from Amma canteen each day.
Sundaramurthy and Suguna inside their waterlogged house (EPS Pic I  P Jawahar.)
Sundaramurthy and Suguna inside their waterlogged house (EPS Pic I P Jawahar.)

CHENNAI: A couple in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's Kolathur constituency are struggling to stave off hunger as they have had no regular income since the outbreak of Covid-19. And as if to rub salt into their wounds, the recent rains have left their house, where they are tenants, waterlogged.

Life has been hard on P Sundaramurthy (62) and his wife Suguna. The small house comprising a hall, bedroom, and kitchen in which they live is located at GKM Colony. It is flooded. They pay Rs 6,000 as monthly rent for the house. Lately, the Rs 20,000 the couple had paid as an advance has been exhausted since they have been unable to pay the rent and the landowner deducted what they owed from the advance. 

"The house owner is asking us to vacate the house. We've nowhere to go," Sundaramurthy told The New Indian Express. As for the water, it keeps seeping, he says.

"I wake up at 4 am and start scooping out the water with a bucket but the water level rises again," he said. In the night, his wife sleeps in a cot while he huddles in a chair and sleeps near her.

Five years ago, Suguna was working as a domestic help and Sundaramurthy was a mason. Subsequently, they shifted to this house and with the little money they had saved bought a cart and put up a roadside 'tiffin' shop. They prepared and sold idlis and dosas in the morning and chappatis at night. But, since Suguna is a diabetic, she had difficulty working continuously. Hence, they shut their night shop and sold breakfast for a while before the pandemic struck and stopped their meagre earnings.

With no income these days, the couple live on three idlis bought from Amma canteen each day.

 "I buy six idlis with borrowed money. We take three each at around 11 am. That's all we take as food a day. This has been going on for nearly a month," Suguna said.

The couple has a son and a daughter. Both were married off and live in Arani. They are not of much help to the aged couple.

A friend visited them on November 18 and seeing their plight asked them to contact the corporation helpline number so that they could get some help. They did, but got food only for one day. The next day it was back to buying the six idlis with borrowed money...

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