“I dropped out of school when I was in class two and eventually joined my uncle’s shoe making business. It has become my livelihood ever since. My happiest memory is of my life back in Maharashtra. We are in the business of making Kohlapuri chappals, so until a few years ago we had our own shop in our hometown. My wife would take care of the home and kids while I took care of the family business. In the evenings she would come to the shop and then we would tell each other about our day. It was a good life, until the day we got a notice saying our shop was going to be demolished due to road widening. We were shattered to hear the news. The years we had spent building our business from the ground up were all wasted, it was all going to be destroyed in a matter of minutes. After the demolishing, we moved to different cities until we finally settled in Guntur. Even though we got some compensation, it wasn’t enough to start a new shop. That’s when my wife decided to contribute to our earnings. She started coming here everyday. I used to feel bad that she had to sit on a footpath and work hard, but I knew that all that she was doing was for our family’s future. Gradually our little business began to do well and we both made a lot of friends here. We were able to give our kids good education too. Time has flown by, it has been 40 years now and I am just happy that every thing worked out. I had never thanked my wife for her contribution all through these years but one day I would surely give her the best gift in life, probably on our next wedding anniversary.”

#Hope #MotivationalDiaries #Support #Family #KohlapuriChappal #Business #Inspire #Friends #Street #LifeisStreet #Happiness #Education #FamilyisEverything #Andhra #HumansofAndhra