Kudumbashree granny goes viral with ‘+1000 aura’ midnight jig

Key points

• Leelamma R seemed to ask just that with her moves as ‘Appadi Podu’ played during ‘Freedom at Midnight: Celebrate Her’…
• A video of the 64-year-old Haritha Karma Sena worker from the Thampanoor ward dancing at the event soon took off…
• While the celebrations were on, she and her fellow Haritha Karma Sena workers continued cleaning the venue.
• The ‘Freedom’ viral video is not Leelamma’s first brush with social media attention.

“Indha aatam podhumaa, innum konjam venumaa?”

Leelamma R seemed to ask just that with her moves as ‘Appadi Podu’ played during ‘Freedom at Midnight: Celebrate Her’, the women-only street event held in Thiruvananthapuram recently as part of Independence Day celebrations.

A video of the 64-year-old Haritha Karma Sena worker from the Thampanoor ward dancing at the event soon took off on Instagram, clocking 15.6 million views and over a million likes.

And true to the song’s line, Leelamma was nowhere near done. Song after song, she showed no signs of running out of either steps or energy.

What happened

“Every time I hear a song, I start dancing. It has been like that since childhood. Once the music starts, I forget everything around me,” she smiles.

That energy, however, is not something she discovered lately. A member of Kudumbashree for the past 23 years, Leelamma joined the Haritha Karma Sena around three years ago.

Before that, she took up whatever work she could find — selling vegetables and fish, doing household work and other odd jobs.

Though her grooves and moves suggested otherwise, Leelamma never formally learnt dance. “But everyone in my family dances well. I used to dance during my school days too whenever I secured an opportunity,” she says.
Behind that straightforward smile, though, is a life marked by life’s struggles. A resident of Rajajinagar, Leelamma lost her husband, John, to an illness four years ago. Two years ago, her eldest son, Francis, died in a road accident. When water seeps in through its weak structure, her small house too remains vulnerable during heavy rain.

The details

Yet, Leelamma does not dwell on misery.

“Whatever happens, life has to move on,” she smiles. “We cannot sit somewhere brooding about things all the time. So whenever we get a chance, even in between work, we should try to be happy and enjoy ourselves.”

Perhaps that is why she rarely misses a chance to join a celebration. Now a grandmother of 10, Leelamma makes sure she is there whenever a programme is held in the Thampanoor ward.

“Many residents came to me that night and said, ‘Even at this age, you have more energy than most of us. Chechi poliyanu (You are awesome). God bless you.’ I was very happy hearing that,” she states.

Why it matters

There is, however, another side to the viral video. What it does not fully show is that Leelamma was also on duty that night.

While the celebrations were on, she and her fellow Haritha Karma Sena workers continued cleaning the venue. The programme ended late, and Leelamma reached home only around 3.30am. “By 5.30am, I was back at work as usual. I don’t get tired,” she states.

For her colleagues, this is hardly surprising. Her Haritha Karma Sena team is among her biggest supporters. There are 14 members, and she is the eldest among them.

“Whenever there is a programme, we look forward to songs being played because we know Leelamma will start dancing,” says Sreeja G, one of her colleagues. “She is the same when it comes to work too. Her age is just a number. She has so much energy, and she passes that energy on to all of us. We all look up to her.”

Background

Notably, the ‘Freedom’ viral video is not Leelamma’s first brush with social media attention. At the extreme-poverty-free Kerala declaration event last year, she joined singer K S Harisankar on stage for a fast-paced number.
Sunglasses on and fully in the groove, Leelamma unleashed her trademark ‘+1000 aura’ on the stage for those few minutes. Social media, unsurprisingly, took notice.

For Leelamma, though, the attention is secondary. The music and energy are what matters.

“No matter how old I get, if there is music, you will see me dancing,” she laughs.