Mysuru: Here is a newspaper distributor who did not stop vending newspapers even after hearing that his wife’s condition was critical. When he returned home after completing his task, his wife was no more.
Nor did the death of his father, who passed away at 4.30 in the morning, or his mother’s death, deter him from fulfilling his responsibility as a newspaper distributor.
Meet 86-year-old M.S. Srikantaiah, who started distributing newspapers when he was 12, and stopped five years ago after he met with an accident. Though he had six boys to help him, he did not stop distributing newspaper even when he was in his seventies.
“My day used to begin at 4 am. And I used to distribute newspapers to at least 300 households even when I was in my seventies,” he disclosed.
An ardent follower of the RSS, he has been in jail four times, which affected his education. “Even when I was in jail during the Emergency, my wife Susheelamma used to ensure that the newspapers were delivered to all houses,” Mr Srikantaiah said.
He began by distributing Mysore Pathrika for which he used to get Rs 5 per month. “Soon there were more newspapers and I got obsessed with paper distribution and could not continue my education in college.”
The trust he won among readers made him so popular that he went on to become corporator twice, from 1982 to 1992.
“I used to distribute newspapers and then attend Council meetings. Even when I was corporator, I used to vend newspapers on a bicyle.” He now resides at Saraswathipuram and is secretary of Srikantha Education Institution which provides education to 1,200 girls.
He announced at the state level convention of newspaper distributors on Sunday that he would offer free education to the daughters of paper distributors, in his school.
