Jalaja Amma has suffered the pangs of hunger. It whetted her appetite for feeding the hungry.

C. Jalaja, a resident of Palkulangara in Kollam district of Kerala, is an enigma to many.

Abandoned by her husband, Jalaja had to battle penury to raise her three children as a single mother since 2006. There were days when she had nothing to eat. Now, she provides free food to those who cannot afford a square meal a day. She manages to do it from the money she saves by working as a tailor and an MGNREGA worker.

The ever-smiling Jalaja told The Telegraph that she had an inner calling last December to serve the needy.

After her husband left, Jalaja said she started working as a maid in houses in the neighbourhood. She used to bring leftover food from a few houses where she cooked, scrubbed floors and washed utensils.

Gradually, she started working as a tailor from the confines of her home. With her paltry savings, she married off her daughter Jayashree, who works as a labourer at a cashew factory in Kollam along with her husband. Jalaja's two younger sons, Arun Kumar and Akhil Kumar, had to drop out of school after Class X and managed to find work at a tyre-repairing shop.

“There were days when my children and I yearned for a proper meal. Last year, I felt that I should give something back to society and started feeding the poor. I earn a minimum wage of ₹330 per day as an MGNREGA labourer and some more by sewing clothes,” Jalaja said.

What began as Jalaja’s small act of kindness soon spread through word of mouth and people started to chip in.

“Some people insist that I take rice or home-grown vegetables from them to feed the needy the next day,” Jalaja said.

She now serves food from a small shop that she has taken on a rent of ₹6,000 per month. “My three children contribute whatever they can as they know what it means to be hungry,” she said.

Jalaja serves free lunch on all days except Thursday and Sunday, when the two local temples provide free food to all.

Shanmughan, a labourer from Tamil Nadu, said he visits “Jalaja Amma's shop” on days when he doesn’t have a job.

“I see Jalaja Amma as a god-sent. I don’t get work every day. On those days, I go and have Jalaja Amma’s food. She offers rice, two types of curries and pickles. Last week, on her birthday, I even got kheer,” Shanmughan said.