The Taluk Office Road in Vandavasi, around 30 km from its district headquarters in Tiruvannamalai, has seldom been busy on Sundays, as most shops down their shutters in the small town.
But, last Sunday, the half-a-kilometre-long stretch was busy with people heading to one shop. It's a vegetable shop where Usman Sait, who runs the outlet, was giving 2 kg of tomatoes to whoever visited his shop that day. The gesture was to celebrate Neeraj Chopra's Olympic gold medal in athletics. "I was an athlete during my school days. So, in a small way, I wanted to celebrate his (Neeraj Chopra) win as it has happened after many years," said 35-year-old Usman Sait, the trader.
Sunday's gesture by the trader cost him 4,500 kg of tomatoes that was given free to the visitors and passersby on the Taluk Road in the town. Most of the vegetables including tomatoes, brinjal, cabbage and greens were brought from the wholesale market in Chittoor in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh by more than 800 vegetable traders from the Vandavasi town every day. During the lockdown since last year, Sait has been giving free dry rations that includes rice, daal, cooking oil, salt and sugar to 80 families in the town every month.
