Govindaraju. On a Selling Spree

Among his vast collection of rare newspapers and old journals is a copy of the first issue of The Indian Express — of 1932 vintage. And that can also be bought from S A Govindaraju, who after spending a life time building a literary treasure trove with passion, is planning to hang up his boots. At the age of 77, the voracious collector no more looks out for books or other things to add to his collection but looks for worthy buyers.  In fact, the man has preserved his collection carefully for 45 years, is now choosy about buyers, who are expected to prove their credentials to him. “I don’t sell my books to those who don’t love them,” he says.

Having inherited the passion — and also half the collection, which now comprises around 2000 books, magazines, newspapers, print advertisements,  jewellery catalogues and other things —  from his father, who was a doctor by profession, Govindaraju carried on the tradition till very recently when he realised that he can no longer preserve the treasure trove for long. All his children live abroad and they may not be able to maintain the huge collection, he feels.

So the precious possession is kept at the garage of his house in Raja Annamalai Puram (No 45/50, Second Main Road), which is regularly browsed through by people keen on picking up a piece or the other.

IAS officers, professors, politicians, celebrities and book lovers are among the visitors to the garage-turned-library, notable among them being actress Gautami and cartoonist Keshav.

The collection has a wide range of articles from jewellery catalogues to literary works, novels, books on philosophy, politics, spirituality, old Punch magazines, Harpers monthly magazine (1879), Penquin and Pelican publications, early advertisements for Lux soap, Titan watches, old Tamil magazines like Anandha Vikatan, Kalki and also painting of artist Silpi.

An alumni of Madras School of Social Work, Govindaraju had worked for companies like the  defunt B&C Mills, TVS and MRF, besides practising as an independent labour law consultant. Then he taught at the University of Madras in the Department of Politics and Public Administration.

The incorrigible book lover, however, has one concern: ‘The book industry is dying.’ He also has a grievance: Book collectors like him are not allowed to sell old books at the annual book exhibition in Chennai.

(Govindaraju can  be contacted on 9941132756 or at renuka_govindaraju@yahoo.com)

VEPERY BUSINESS MAGNET

A pleasant afternoon indeed, I travelled to vepery from anna square in order to check out the place. I had already been there sometime back, there was one petite thing which induced me to go back to that place of all the other places in Chennai.

Vepery is a heavily crowded place, which is situated between the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and the Central Railway station. The population there is mostly of Jains and therefore it has a huge Jain temple in the beginning of the area. It is surrounded by beautiful historic buildings such as the Dina Malar office and the St. Andrews Church. The place is quite sophisticated with good schools and colleges and also other social amenities. There is also a school for special children in the church grounds and also a lot of community buildings to fulfill the needs of the poor.

My main reason behind my re-visit to that particular place was because of a smart business magnet who belonged to that area. He might not have the looks of an entrepreneur who earns nearly millions  a day, but he has immense amount of knowledge  to win over his customers. 6000 a day might not sound a massive amount for many, but earning 6000 out of a roadside chat shop is huge and incredible. I met this man last month when I had come for a field work, he quenched my thirst as well as contented my hunger with his mouth-watering Pani Puri. I can still feel the taste of it when I think about it. An obese 50 year old man named Raja owns a chat stall on the E.V.K.Sampath Salai which is adjacent to the Malai Malar office. I have no idea if he adds some drug to his puri’s  but anybody who had his pani puri’s would definitely want to have it once again, it’s that delicious. He started off with just a cycle and a pot which would have the masala pani but now he has his own scooter, an apartment and his son studies at Agarwal Vidyalaya. Time changed him from a roadside vendor to an astonishing brilliant business man.

When I asked him what his business strategies are, he answered me casually with his master piece grin on his face “ I treat my customers like my buddies and make them feel comfortable that is the main reason behind all these Honda’s and Audi’s being parked infront of this roadside stall, secondly my prices are cheap when compared to other chat shops , I sell 15 pani puri’s for 20rs, which you cannot find anywhere else with this quality, thirdly my stall is in the right location, Vepery is one of the place which has large population of the Marwadi’s and Gujarathi’s who love chats, I also see to it I avoid garlic and onions for them and that’s how I earned goodwill from them.” And when asked about the fourth reason, he tackled me off by telling that the fourth one was a mix of his secret recipe and his secret business strategy, which he wouldn’t let out.

Whatever it may be, his preparations cannot be compared to anything less than the blissful nectar from heaven. He also prepares various other dishes such as Chocolate and cheese sandwich, Hot Sour Chilli Toast Sandwich, Noodles Sandwich and a lot more adding on to the regular chat variety. The prices are very affordable and shocking, nothing is more than 28rs and one plate of any chat from there can be shared by two for sure. His target customers are mostly the students of Agarwal Vidyalaya and G.S.S.Jain college, along with them there are plenty of students from Doveton Corrie who throng to the place to eat his special addictive Pani Puri’s.

His hardwork, dedication and a sharp mind has got him all that he wanted in his life. He is now a happy man living with the love of his life and his adorable son who studies in the 7^th grade. His story sets an example to all of us, it might be an old saying but it still has it’s own significance in one’s life  “ hardwork repays”.  His stall is right opposite the Jain temple in vepery, all of you must really taste this kind of food atleast once in your life time.

Insights of Ayyapppa Nagar

The residents of Ayyappa Nagar, a small colony behind the Koyambedu Market , are in a thorny situation due to the newly developing lorry parking. A vast area of more than 15 grounds, poses a big threat as the residents feel their privacy is completely lost. The compound wall of the the parking area is too low which makes the drivers and other strangers, staring at their residence all day and night. The colony has a total of 39 plots and around 374 residents, the locality is surrounded with good schools, park, departmental stores ,market , and both private and mofussil  bus stands  and is a highly developed colony, but of recent the area is losing its charm due to the immoral activities that are happening there.

The lorry drivers and cleaners indulge in obscene shameful activities, which make all the womenfolk feel very uncomfortable and insecure. This parking lot directly faces the colony’s premiere dance institute; Akshaya arts, “both the students & teachers feel that their privacy is completely lost as these people constantly stare , peep into the classes and pass outrageous comments during the class hours “ says Mr. Binesh Mahadevan ,Director Akshaya Arts. Everybody seems to be  apprehensive to even walk on that particular stretch of road as the street lights are constantly stolen or broken leaving the road pitch dark.

There other people too who cause a tough time to these residents, next to the parking is the corporations night shelter for the homeless, otherwise called as the round building. It serves as a safe place for most thieves and crooks. They trespass our flats during nights and sleep on our corridors, ring the bell  and disturb us during night, says Mr. Suresh, resident of the flats opposite the round building. It is a risky route for the womenfolk especially because of the pitch dark routes and lack of security, chain snatching and other immoral activities often happen here says Sasikumar, Executive member, Ayyappa nagar welfare association, even after constant complaints, the place isn’t got any better. The police pay attention for few days and lose interest after that.

The solitude and vast space has added up one more brutal incident, the murder of a money lender recently. The victim was told that his money would be returned if he came to that particular and was hacked to death by a few party men and the prime assassin. After this incident the policemen are more cautious and have kept a complaint box in front of the round building, though it never serves its purpose. The residents want the police to be more vigilant and heedful to bring back the charm of the colony.

TAILORED.

TAILORED!

A dancer’s costume is what that adds to the aesthetic appeal of their performance, and crafting the same is a god given gift . D.S.Aiyellu, a living legend in the field of Costume designing is one such gifted person. He started his career under the guidance of Sri. Ambedkar in 1944 at the Gemini studios and soon learnt the art form to set up his own independent division in 1946.

His career kicked off when he started designing costumes for Mrs. Vyjayanthimala bali , legendary actress/dancer , from 1950-1970 he served as her personal designer during the same time he also stitched costumes for yester years actress kamala and kanaka. In 1962, he set up his own tailoring outlet at tiruvalluvar street and later moved to his current shop located in Nandanam, in 1971.

From legends to upcoming artists, he has served a wide variety of artists spreading all over the world. If an artist looks perfect on stage , the credit always goes to Aiyellu’s costumes, which make the artists look like sculptures. Famous dancers like Padma Subramanyam, Ranganayaki Jayaraman , Bragha Bassel, Priyadarshini govind ,Alarmel valli , all prefer stiching theirs as well as their students costume with Aiyellu, as they feel he is a lucky charm to their artistic life. Actresses like Revathi , Hemamalini , Shobana also get their costumes stitched here, as they love his perfection. At the age of 82 , he still needles the thread with his naked eye.

When asked him how much time he takes to stitch one costume he says, “ if it is a simple one , it takes half a day, but if it’s a little complex one with Kacham and all, it takes one day for me to finish”. Though he has 5 to 6 staffs working under him, he always prefers to do most of the work as it gives him fulfillment . he also added that , “ I would like to rest only when my soul rests, till then I will serve the art fraternity to my fullest” , concludes Aiyellu. Sri. Aiyellu , received the Sangeeth Natak Academy award in the year 2005, but all those who have been benefitted by him , have a strong feeling that he must be given a “Kalaimamani” in the field of costume designing.

KEYchain TO SUCCESS

People enjoy collecting stamps, coins, antiques, and othrer valuables, whereas 42yr old Rajendra Rathi, of Sowcarpet finds pleasure, collecting Keychains of all kinds.

From plastics to precious metals,, Mr. Rathi has a rare collection of different varieties of keychains. It all started 25 years back, when he went on a school excursion, he was struck by this keychain seller on the roadside and got his first keychain of his collection from him. From then on he has had a strong desire to collect more and more of these and store at home. Today he has about 5000 keychains to his credit ranging from Plastics, fur, mud, white and black metals, bamboos, wood, silver and gold.

About 10% of his collection are made by him. When asked him how he finds time for all this after work and family chores he says with a confident smile, "After work watever time i have i devote for this completly", and moreover his family extends their fullest support to help him continue his untiring passion, his children always help him find new keychains and his wife patiently arranges them in a systematic and definite pattern which really serves as a visual treat.

Mr. Rajendra Rathi not only has keychains to his credit but also 2000 rare pictures of Lord Ganesha and about 3000 music cassetes from 1970's to 2000's. His untiring efforts must be recognised by the Limca book of records concludes Mr.Rathi.

Learning Blooms in Ayodhya Kuppam.

Ayodhyakuppam, a fishing colony near Marina beach, was once known for its criminals, particularly with gangster Veeramani's writ running large in the area. But after his death in a police encounter on the Marina sands in 2003, the 1,050 families in the colony have come under the spell of a do-gooder, a man with a vision called Sasi Kumar.

As president of the Ayodhyakuppam Welfare Association, Sasi Kumar has not only ensured that the dropout rate of children from the colony has come down to zero but has also admitted 102 students in school, some of them top-notch institutions where Chennai's affluent class send their children. Earlier, Sasi Kumar says, children from the colony attended the nearby government and aided schools and the dropout rate was almost 50 per cent.

In the colony that has about 100 graduates there is not a single professional college graduate, he says and pins his hopes on Mahesh, now a Plus One student of Hindu Senior Secondary School, who will be joining an engineering college. Sasi Kumar has already identified a sponsor to support the fisherman's son in his pursuit of his engineering degree provided he scores 1,100 marks out of 1,200 in the higher secondary examination and expresses a desire to help others when he grows up. Mahesh is a bright student and will score more than 1,100, says Sasi Kumar.

Sasi Kumar, now 38 years old, started the work in his colony 10 years back with a view to bringing about a change in the lives of the fishermen. "People here were living like savages and children rarely attended school as education was last on their priority list," says Sasi Kumar, who graduated from New College. The fishermen were exploited by the educated and wealthy class, who denied them remunerative prices for their catch and paid low wages for work done by them. So Sasi Kumar decided to catch them young and prepare them for a prosperous future. Since it has to start with education, he roped in his friends from outside the colony and found wellwishers and sponsors to support the education of the children of the colony. Using his influence he got admission for the children in premier schools like Rosary Matriculation, Hindu Senior Secondary, Washington Matriculation, Rex Matriculation, Sacred Heart (Church Park Convent), Children's Garden, Guru Vidhyalalya. Christ Church Matriculation and Monfort.

The high fees charged by some of these schools, the books and the uniforms were taken care of through sponsorship, while Sasi Kumar arranged for evening tuition and computer coaching inside the colony, which even has a small library for school children.

He promoted sports by providing the children with equipment and special coaching in volleyball, football and swimming.

One of the girls from the colony, Ragavi, represented India in the Commonwealth Games.

“Talent, potential and aspirations are high among our children, especially the girls. Given an opportunity they will excel,” says Sasi Kumar, who says he just needs generous sponsors.