Ernakulam:Age is just a number for 101-year-old Chayattu Velayudhan from West Vengola in Ernakulam district of Kerala. Anyone who is as old might think of retirement at this age. Velayudhan has no such thought of retirement or rest. He is very active and walks barefoot to his ration shop each day. For the people of Vengoli, Velayudhettan’s (Velayudhan is fondly called so by the locals) ration shop is the only Public Distribution System (PDS) they rely on.
Velayudhan has been running this ration shop at Eecharan Kavala in West Vengola from 1957 when the Kerala Government initiated a Public Distribution System for basic food supplies to the people.
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He said that the secret to his health and fitness is the walk from his home to his ration shop in the morning and walking back home at night.
Velayudhan, who could get formal education only up to 4th grade, has never used the footwear in his 101 years of life so far.
Right from a very young age, Velayudhan began working as a helper at a grocer’s store for livelihood. It has been 63 years since he started the ration shop. Even on holidays, Velayudhan opens his ration shop so that those who have not got their supplies till then, could get it.
With the meagre income he gets, he has taken care of his family. He educated all his 5 children and they have all found their own means to live.
With the whole world going online and everything is done using the internet, the digitalisation has reached the PDS shops also. As the PDS distribution is also to be carried out in a computerised manner using biometrics and such, of late, Velayudhan had to appoint a neighbour for help to operate the computerised system at his ration shop.
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