Septuagenarians quench thirst of citizens

Vijayawada: They are all senior citizens who crossed the age of seventy years. But they are young at heart. Noticeably, they are the last batch (1969) of Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) studied in the Koneru Basavaiah Chowdary Zilla Parishad High School at Patamata on the outskirts of Vijayawada city.

The septuagenarians want to serve society in their own way. They started a kiosk at Patamata Centre which supplies cool buttermilk to the citizens for the second consecutive year. Polavarapu Bose Babu took initiative to collect the details of the 1969 batch and started the Group of 1969.

It may be recalled that the 1969 batch started various programmes for the first time in 2022 including felicitation to the teachers who taught them way back in 1969, and collective dinner during the month of Kartika. For the first time, the group started a butter milk kiosk at Patamata in the summer of 2023 and served butter milk to several thousands of people throughout the summer months.

The group launched the same service this year also. Surprisingly, not only the septuagenarians but also their relatives, children and others also started contributing their mite for the butter milk kiosk this year. Former MLA Yalamanchili Ravi, who is also the alumni of the high school, provided a place for the kiosk this year also. Dr Valluru Siva Prasad, G Madhava Rao, Kamineni Kishore, Venkatrao, Rani, Koneru Vijaya Kumari, Kasturi, Shyam Sundar, Veeranki Mohan Rao, Sitaramaiah, and several others were present.