Chennai: He is a qualified chartered accountant earning 45,000 a month, but that has not stopped D Manikandan from doing what he has been doing for long — help his mother D Lakshmi, 45, arrange vegetables on her tricycle.
His father Dhanaraj loads spinach leaves on another tricycle. “Every morning, my mother goes to Koyambedu and returns with vegetables, spinach and other groceries in a mini-van and unloads them on the roadside on Dr Radhakrishnan Salai. By then, I am there and help them arrange vegetables and spinach on their vehicles,” says the 24-year-old who recently joined Sundaram BPO India Limited as assistant manager (finance).
“It is my life and has sustained our family. Why should I think it is a menial job,” he asks. He who walks from his house in Ramakrishna Puram, Mylapore a pavement in front of a hospital on Dr Radhakrishnan Salai to wait for his mother to return from Koyambedu.
After his parents set off on their rounds — they traverse the streets of Gopalapuram and Royapettah and return home at 3pm — he walks back home to get ready for office. Lakshmi and Dhanaraj have regular customers in their area as their vegetables and groceries are fresh everyday.
Manikandan, who scored 450 out of 500 in Class 10 and 1,057 of 1,200 in Class 12, while a student of PS Higher Secondary School in Mylapore, is remembered with pride by his teachers. Says K Ganesan, a retired post-graduate assistant in commerce at PS Senior Higher Secondary School, “he was one of the most obedient boys in school and helped others during lunch hours. I am proud of what he has achieved.”
Others in the area talk warmly about Manikandan. C Krishnaprasad, 62, a resident of Lloyds Road, says, “I have known Lakshmi for seven years. She recently told me her son had completed his CA recently. Lakshmi is very popular in the Gopalapuram area. Several supermarkets have come up but Lakshmi continues to do her business.”
Dhanaraj, a native of Puduchery, married Lakshmi of Villupuram 30 years ago. They settled in Mylapore and have been selling vegetables since then.
Source: Times of India paper
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