Mrs Ravi, who is 90, didn’t retire until she was 70, when her sight became so bad that she couldn’t carry on. It was then that Mrs Ravi’s financial problems began. ‘My pension was very low, hardly anything. It was hard but I never asked for anything. Then the Poll Tax came in and it was impossible for me to pay it – my pension was less than the Poll Tax!’
The Social Services put her in touch with the Metropolitan Society for the Blind (now Blind Aid) whose benefits adviser discovered that certain benefits had been due to Mrs Ravi for some time, so not only did she get an extra amount each week, but also a back payment which she wishes to use to take a trip home to India.
‘I want to visit my sister who is 93, and go to the cemetery where my mother and grandmother and grandfather and uncles and aunts are all buried in one grave. I should like to pay my last respects, say my last goodbyes. On a happier note, I should like to go to all the old places where I lived as a child, and see my great-nephew and great-niece. I shall go walking down Memory Lane thanks to the help I’ve received.’
