Slice Of Life: ‘My father died when I was 7, had to start working to feed family’

My hometown is Tirunelveli and I have studied up to Class 7. When I was 6 or 7 years old, my father died, and my mother had to raise me and my two brothers all by himself. Due to the family situation, I could not continue school and started working on small jobs.

In 1968, I came to Chennai to work in a fancy store in Saidapet. I worked there for around 12 years before starting to sell chappals on the roadside. During that period, I used to lay shop on Saidapet. But, due to proliferation of more shops in Saidapet, I moved to Choolaimedu. Since 2000, I have sitting on the Choolaimedu High Road pavement, selling slippers.

Until a few years ago, I would earn at least Rs 500 as profit alone per day. But now, the sales have dipped. With the earnings from this business, I got my two daughters married. I also bought a vacant plot in Redhills.

My son is also married, and he is an auto-rickshaw driver. Even though I wanted him to continue his studies, he dropped out of the school after completing Class 8.