Old age doesn’t mean one is confined within four walls of his/her house and dependent on others around for daily routine. Krishnamurthy (91), a long-time resident of Tansi Nagar, Velacheri, is a good example.
Even while moving around, this retired Senior Accounts Officer (SAO) of Railways gets offended if someone offers to help him or gives him a hand. His daughter Vijayalakshmi and son-in-law Raman tell us how independent he is.
“He suffered a stroke in 2015, but can you make out that he had one,” asks Raman. He, in fact, does not show any signs of weakness.Ā His family says that he devotes his time for reading and writing ‘Sri Rama jayam.”
“I read anything I can lay my hands on and write Rama Jayam on the booklets from Kanchi matam,” he says. The booklets consist of 20 pages and one can write 10,080 times in it. Krishnamurthy has been writing in it for the last 10 years. The day News Today visited him, he had written four pages, that is, 2,500 times. He says that he writes for selfless reasons.
Another favourite pass time of his was walking and he does not use public transport or any other vehicles. The reason why Krishnamurthy had to stop his daily walks is because of the ongoing bridge work in Velacheri.
“He had the habit of walking from Choolaimedu to Mambalam and then to Vadapalani in a day. On New year’s day in 2015, he visited five temples across the city and it affected his health drastically, say his family members.
His core strength, he says, was his late wife Rajalakshmi. “We got married in Thanjavur. It was a five-day elaborate marriage. We have five children,” he says when asked about her. “Both were each other’s strengths throughout their 67 years of marriage. However, she passed away in December 2018,” his family says. “I am content in life,” is all Krishnamurthy has to say.
He can be reached at 94442 61863.