Attabira: Age is just a number for these three elderly men who have put their old age aside to add a source of income to their families.
Despite being in their sunset years, Madhusudan Rana (90), Dinabandhu Rana (80) and Shanti Muduli (72) toil hard day and night and live a life of dignity.
While Madhusudan is a well known potter and capable of making all kinds of small and big beautiful items using clay, Dinabandhu and Shanti are experts in rope making. The three friends sit on a veranda and keep themselves busy with their work, instead of sleeping or whiling away their time like many people of their age.
While family members provide clay for Madhusudan, he makes pottery on the veranda. Similarly, the grandchildren of Dinabandhu and Shanti collect unwanted ropes and thrown away materials and hand them over to the two elderly men. The two then make nice, strong and colourful new ropes out of the discarded ones.
They reminisce on their young age and engross themselves in work. If not more, they earn enough to live a life of dignity. They are no more dependent on their children which they proudly claim. Not a day passes without the three sitting together and doing their work.
“We have been working since young age. We feel bored if we are sitting idle. So, we engage ourselves in work,” the trio said.
“Our work is our exercise. So, each one of us is fit at this age,” the three boasted. Locals also praised the unity and friendship of the three men and said they were a source of inspiration for many. Their friendship is taken as an example by the villagers.
However, what bothers them is even though the three are eligible for old age pension, they are deprived of the same. They want the administration to look into the issue.
PNN