My Experiences in Kerala
It was on the Onam holidays, in the year 1956, I stepped on the soil of Kerala. I had received a letter from M.Ct. and Sons Managing agents of the Travancore Rayons Ltd., that I am appointed as an apprentice for 3 months on a remuneration of Rs.100/- per month.
The
present worth of the remuneration is about Rs.10,500/.
at
6% inflation rate.
Sivarathiri typically falls in the month of Phalguna (February-March) and is
observed on the night of the new moon. This night is dedicated to meditation,
fasting, and prayer, as devotees believe that worshiping Lord Shiva
during this time can lead to spiritual growth and liberation.
In
Aluva, the festival is marked by various rituals at the Aluva Siva Temple,
which is situated along the banks of the Periyar River. Thousands of devotees
gather to participate in special prayers, processions, and cultural programs.
The temple is beautifully illuminated, and many people perform the 'Sivarathri
puja' throughout the night, chanting mantras and offering flowers and fruits.
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| Siva |
Swaminatahapillai
took me to Travancore Rayons in a Station wagon which was under his, control.
It was a holiday. I met Mr.Subbiah who was the Joint Secretary at that time. He
asked me as to whether I brought the appointment letter. I did not take it with
me. It was in my trunk at Perumbavoor. He advised me to report to the office
with the letter next day. I reported to the office next day and waited in the
Reception room which was later on converted as a computer room when we
purchased a HCL 8 configuration
Mr.AR
Ramanathan, the then Chairman visited Rayanpuram on that day and came to the
office in the afternoon. After checking up with him, the then Personnel Officer
Balakrishnan Nair, issued the posting order. I received it in the evening, after
the buses (office trip) left.
Mr.AR
Valliappan, Mr.N Nagappan and a few others walked to Perumbavoor, along with
me, covering 5 kilometers.
I
was posted in the Spinning department. At that time Arumuga sir was the
Production Manager. Under him there were only supervisors. There were general
shift supervisors who were in charge of each department.
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| Travancore Rayons |
2.V.V.Narayanan
was in charge of C.F.Viscose
3.
P.B.C.Menon was in charge of Spinning, A.T. and Textiles
4.T.K.Chari
was in charge of C.F
5.M.D.Chacko
was in charge of C.F.Cutting
6.P.K.G.Pillai
was in charge of CS2
7.L.A.Krishnamoorthy
was in charge of Moisture Proof plant.
I
was first in Spinning, then in Viscose. A consultant firm by name Beacons was
appointed to do Method study and Time study. A dept was formed to meet their requirement.
The name of the department was Work study.
Kannappan was in charge. He was selected by National Productive council
to go to America. I was deputed to work study department to assist Beacons. I
was there for 5 years.
Then
I became the Personnel Officer, Industrial Engineer, Administrative manager and
General Manger (Adm) as years proceeded on.
I
was asked to proceed to Hyderabad and form an office to sell Cellophane as we
were getting one more C.F.Machine
In
Hyderabad I stayed at Barkatpura, in a nice house opposite to Obul Reddy’s
house. Obul Reddy manufactured and marketed Dynora T.V. In the next house Mr.
Sundaraja naidu stayed. He studied at Pachayappa college, Madras. He was a contemporary
of C.N Annadurai. As Irony would have it,
Sundaraja Naidu won the Elecution competition inspite of the fact C.N
Annadurai studied along with him.
Sunderraja
Naidu’s son was in the Cricket Control Board. He was the South Zone selection
committee chairman. It was he who spotted V.V.S.Laxman
I had taken a car with me from the factory. I
appointed a driver by name Ganesan who spoke tamil. In the forenoon after
allocating work for my staff, Chellem Iyer, Gopalakrishnan and myself used to
go in search of good Irany tea. Chellam Iyer retired from Railways. He used to
boast that he worked with the great comedy actor Nagesh. Gopalakrishnan retired
from Kores. It is said that when Rajiv Gandhi came to Hyderabad he asked for
Irani Tea.
Three Officers who had post graduate MBA
degree, a typist and a peon was the strength of my office. Initially the
officers were Chalapathy Rao, Srinivas, and Shelly Antony. When Srinivas left
Narayanamoorthi was appointed The industrial agglomeration of Hyderabad was sub
divided into 3 groups and the 3 officers were entrusted with the job of surveying
the market in their respective areas. Also we dug the cemetery (we looked into
the old files and prepared the list of companies which gave business in past)
We
came across companies like Ampro biscuits, IDL chemicals, Park Devis etc. Due
to improper supplies, and quality problems they had stopped ordering with us and
went to the competitor Kesoram. As General Manager, I assured them timely
supplies of good quality material, and got back the order
We
quickly increased the sales turnover to a level, that our office expenses were
1% of turnover. That justified the existence of a separate office at Hyderabad.
I
retired when I was in Hyderabad. After a few years I was recalled to the
factory as Chief General Manger (Operations).
During
my tenure as Administrative Manager, I had the pleasure of meeting important
personalities like Mr.Nachi Muthu Mahalingam of Pollachi, a close friend of
former Agriculture Minister C.Subramaniam who did the green revolution in
India. Sunderram Shetty, the then Chairman of Vijaya Bank. Mr.Iyengar,
Industries Secretary who came to Nationalize Apollo Tyres, Various Ministers of
Kerala & other states and a lot of
other dignitaries.
I
took Minister Madhavan (Industries Minister in M.G.R’s Ministry) to places like
Kalady, Koodal Manickam ,Thirupryar, Guruvayur & Thrissur. He was also
taken to Kodungallur.
Travancore
Rayons is on the western side of Periar River. Kalady is in the opposite side.
Kalady is a
town located between Angamaly and Perumbavoor, east of the Periar river, near Malayattoor in Ernakulam district of Kerala. Six kms away
from Cochin International Airport . It is the birthplace of 9th century
Indian philosopher Adi Shankara.
Kalady came to prominence only after its rediscovery in
the late 19th century by the then Shankaracharya of Sringeri and the
subsequent consecration of an Adi Shankara temple in 1910. The centenary of Kalady
was celebrated in May 2010.
Kanchi, Jayanthra saraswathi, came walking to
Perumbavoor and Kalady. I was in the reception committee .He then organaised construction
of a Keerthi Sthambam adjacent to the
Main Central Road ( Angamali to Thiruvanathapuram ). The idea of constructing a
sthooby was conceived by Chandra sekara swamigal fondly known as Maha Periyava
and was executed by Jayendra Saraswathy
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| Keerthi Sthambam |
One can climb the spiral staircase inside the mandapam
and see the paintings and statues on the walls, depicting important episodes
from the life of Sri Adi Sankara.
Koodal Manickyam :
Kerala
has got temples for Rama,
Lakshmana, Bharatha & Shatrughna .Of this Koodal Manickyam temple is dedicated
to Bharatha.
Koodalmanikyam Temple is in Irinjalakuda Municipality, Thrissur district, Kerala, India .The temple comprises of a main
structure, a walled compound with citadels, and four ponds around the main
structure one of which is within the walls. Koodalmanikyam Temple is the only
ancient temple in India dedicated to
the worship of Bharatha, The temple is
one of four in Kerala that form a
set called "nalambalam", each
temple dedicated to one of the four brothers in the epic Ramayana: Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna.
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| Koodal Manickam Temple |
The Thachudaya Kaimal as "Manikkam Keralar" is the spiritual chief and the temporal ruler of the Koodalmanikyam Temple and its estates. The line goes back to antiquity and is mentioned in the sacred Skanda Purana
Thriprayar Temple:
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| Thriprayar Temple |
Thriprayar Shree Ramswami
Temple is situated in Thriprayar in Thrissur district of Kerala state. The deity
is Rama, the seventh
incarnation of Vishnu, with four arms
bearing a conch, a discus, a bow, and a garland. The temple is
located on the bank of Karuvannur river, which
is called as Theevra River. It flows through Thriprayar, and
presently forms a part of Canoli Canal, which
connects Kozhikode and Kodungallur. The temple deity is the presiding
deity of Arattupuzha Pooram. Along with Rama,
there are shrines for Shiva (as Dakshinamoorthy), Ganesha,Shastha and Krishna
and there is also worship for Hanuman and chathan.
We then proceeded to Guruvayur.
Guruvayur:
Guruvayur Temple is a Hindu temple
dedicated to Guruvayurappan (four-armed
form of the Vishnu), located in the
town of Guruvayur in Kerala, India. Administrated by
the Guruvayur Devaswom, it is one of the
most important places of worship for Hindus in Kerala
and Tamil Nadu and is often
referred to as Bhuloka Vaikunta (Holy Abode
of Vishnu on Earth). The temple is Classified one among the 108 Abhimana Kshethram of Vaishnavite tradition.
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| Guruvayurappan |
The central icon is a four-armed standing Vishnu carrying the conch Panchajanya, the discus Sudarshana, the mace Kaumodaki, and a lotus with a tulasi garland. This image represents the form of Vishnu as revealed to Krishna’s parents Vasudeva and Devaki around the time of his birth. Worship proceeds according to routines laid down by Adi Shankara and later written formally in the Tantric way, the inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, by Chennas Nambudiri (1427-1527), whose descendants are the hereditary tantris (high priests) of the Guruvayur Temple.
Thrissivaperur:
Thrissur, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical
name Thrissivaperur, is a
city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, It is
the third largest
urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and the 21st
largest in India. The city is built around a 65-acre hillock called Thekkinkadu Maidanam which seats
the Vadakkunathan temple. It is located
304 kilometers (189 mi) north-west of the state's capital city, Thiruvananthapuram. Thrissur was
once the capital of the Kingdom of Cochin, and was a point
of contact for the Assyrians, Greeks,
Arabs, Romans, Portuguese, Dutch & English.
Pooram festival is conducted every year in the Vadukunathan
temple. It is a competition between two temples namely Parmaykavu and
Thiruvempadi. A healthy clash of chenda, Show of umbrella and Vedikattu are
interesting.
Normally we return back from there to Travancore Rayon’s guest house covering 59 kms. If one shows interest in temples, we take them to Kodungallur also.
Kodungallur:
Kodungallur also called
as Cranganore (anglicized name),
Portuguese: Cranganor; Mahodayapuram, Shingly, Vanchi, Muchiri
is a historically significant town situated on the banks of river Periyar on the Malabar Coast in Thrissur district of Kerala,
It is 29 kilometers (18 mi) north of Kochi (Cochin) by National Highway 66 and 38 km (24 mi) from Thrissur. Kodungallur, being a port city at the northern end of the Kerala lagoons, was a strategic entry point for the naval fleets to the extensive Kerala backwaters.
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| Kodungallur Temple |
I spent the best part of my life in Kerala
and learnt Malayalam also which is very useful now. I come across a lot of
malayaleese now. Speaking to them in their own language increases closeness.
On the whole it was a satisfying and eventful 45 years
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Sir, It is quite interesting, informative, and inspiring to learn about your career and your life experiences in Kerala and Hyderabad.
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