Padmapur: At an age when most people spend time in bed due to various geriatric ailments, an 82-year-old man of Jumuruguda under this block in Rayagada walks at least 30 km a day to support his family.
Octogenarian Nata Sahoo collects vegetables, mushrooms, firewood from inaccessible regions of the district and hawks them in the lanes of Padmapur walking in barefoot to fend himself and his wife. With his determination to remain active till his last breath he has proved that age is nothing but just a number for him. However, he didn’t pick up the work by choice but it was a compulsion.
Nata has five daughters and a son who should look after their aging parents at the twilight. But none except for his elder daughter spared a thought about the old couple after all her children got settled in lives.
Nata was not the man to feel bogged down by vagaries of life. Instead of pleading for help from his children, he preferred to work hard to bear his and his wife’s burden. Though elder daughter Laxmi offered them to stay with her, Nata pays the cost of their day to day requirements to his daughter because of her poverty. However, he regrets the fact that his son and daughter-in-law deserted him. But he is happy that the family has managed to get a house under IAY.
As per his daily routine, Nata leaves home at about 3 am everyday and travels around 30 km by walking to collect vegetables from some tribal villages like Jatili, Shikarpai, Khambariguda and Kenduguda. He sells them in Padmapur town and other residential areas. In rainy season, he collects wild mushrooms from forest. He also collects firewood to earn a living.
Unhappy over his old age pension of Rs 300, Nata hopes the government hike the amount so that it can bring little more comfort to his family of two. PNN