When I was young from Ramanthapur village, one lady used to bring milk and curd in a basket and sell. Her name is Lalithamma. She was always seen eating some nuts or sacks all the way. My mother used to say she had baadshah teeth (ie., teeth projected forward in the shape of a chisel hammer used by carpenters). When she arrives in the morning, one of us should lift her basket from her head. For laundry works another woman used to come, her name is Satyamma.

For selling vegetables, a lady used to come everyday evening with a basket over her head with all types of vegetables in it. With lots of bargaining, my mother used to buy from her. Her husband died young, he had a health problem and was taken to a Hospital which is near the main road. He was given an injection and later he died. Similarly, there are many people in Ramanthapur who blame the hospital for the death of their near and dear. It was the only hospital nearby which is open all the time and has the facility to admit the patients for treatment. So people approach it. They always give by default an injection to any patient. Many people traditionally believe that injection does more good. When patients die because of any other complications, but finally blame the same injection for the death.

A person by name Mr. Tupakula Veeraiah was our neighbor. He used to repair the weapons especially guns, so in his name has the prefix “Tupakula” in Telugu it means guns. Many people used to visit him for getting their arms repaired. Sometimes to test his repaired guns he used to shoot the water birds in the tank. Whenever he was going to the tank with his gun, we children followed him to see. The guns which he often used  were double barrel gun and the steel balls gun or cherrelu (steel balls) wala gun. In the cherrelu wala gun they load with the gunpowder along with the small steel balls. By pressing the trigger used to generate a spark and fire the gun. The steel balls disperse in the direction of shooting as precision was more important to kill the water birds moving in groups. At least one of two birds used to get injured, and a person swims to catch them. The tamarind tree along the banks of the tank and lots of grass in the water was his favorite place. His wife died and later, he married a young women and soon he died.