My Father K. Govindarajulu

Rajesh Govindarajulu

“My father was the first grandson of the legendary jeweler, P. A. Raju Chettiar. He was born on 7 January 1946 to his parents, R. Krishnan and K. Lalitha Bai, at Gopala Padma Vilas, Salem. My grandmother had to undergo an ordeal while delivering my father. This gave worries to my great grandparents, Rajalakshmi and Raju Chettiar. However, the words of my great great grandmother, Subbulakshmi, assuaged them in a dream.

Father was born on Maargazhi Sadhayam (Tamil month and star) and his birth was celebrated. Every visitor was given a tiny silver Kinnam (Katori) with a laddu during their visit to see him. People undertook extra visits to get one more laddu and silver kinnam. He was born due to the grace of Lord Ramanathaswamy of Rameswaram and was therefore named Ramalingam. My great grandaunt, Ranganayaki Ramaswamy, would not call him by name, for women of those days would not spell out the names which were similar to that of their husbands. Therefore, she began to call him Govinda and the name stuck on Bala Venkata Alagiri Ramalingam became Govindarajulu.

He was prone to cough and cold and therefore my grandmother had to take a lot of care. His eyes were sensitive to crackers and therefore he did not burst crackers for many years. Our shop assistant used to take him to M. G. Eye Hospital to have his eye-drops regularly. Father and his cousin, Subbulakshmi, went to school on the Vijayadashami of 1950. Both were taken on an elephant to the Arya Vysya School near our house in Vysial Street. The famous danseuse, Kumari Kamala, had given a dance performance on that occasion.

A gold-bordered writing slate and a golden chalk-piece holder were his companions for learning. The school bell would ring only after my father had marked his presence. Father, later, shifted to St. Michael’s High School on Big Bazaar Street in Coimbatore. He pursued Tamil medium but his ability to grasp English grammar was copious. The grammar book written by Wren and Martin was his life-long guide and his mathematics teacher, K. S. Ramanatha Iyer, proved extremely supportive. His early academic years were not good and one day my grandmother was shocked to see a caricature made from the zero-mark scored by him. This upset her and she took him to the great scholar, Brahmashri Sengalipuram Anantharama Deekshithar, during her annual sojourn to Salem.

The scholar suggested that either my grandmother or my father fast on a Tuesday while also propitiating on Lord Muruga and also read parts of the ‘Skanda Puranam’ every day. My father chose to fast on successive Tuesdays and began to read the ‘Skanda Puranam.’ This habit stayed with him for life, and he grew up to be a mechanical engineer. He had a fine sense of music and therefore he could play several musical instruments including jalatharangam, violin, mandolin, harmonium, and guitar. My grandmother, Lalitha Bai, had sent the music teacher, Ranganatha Bhagavathar, to Bengaluru to purchase the ceramic bowls required for playing jalatharangam. However, father turned out to be an ace guitarist.

Tennis was under Noor Mohammad at Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club in Racecourse, and he made several friends during those days. Our household had a huge set of swords and my father used to enjoy sword duels with his near and dear. He was a powerlifter, swimmer, and a snooker player. Father had numerous friends during his days at the Coimbatore Institute of Technology. His close friends included R. Prabhu (Former Minister of State Fertilizers), R. Baba Chandrashekar (Son of Industrialist and former Member of Parliament, P. R. Ramakrishnan), Ramachandran who was known as Kannan, and Ranganathan. He used to tell me about his visits to Bombay to see the floating industrial fair.

His younger days were spent in our huge jewelry workshop, and he used to tell me about the large number of gold bars (Weighing 250 tolas) that were carried by him and the other kids at home from one place to other. Marriage came quickly and my mother, G. Aravindakumari, joined him on 14 July 1967. Father had wanted to pursue his higher education at the United States of America, but his early marriage put an end to that idea. I was born on the very next year and my brother, Suresh, followed me a year later. Our parents were keen to bring us up well and we had one nanny each while growing up. Like his uncle, S. P. Ramanathan, father was an avid reader. He also followed the footsteps of his maternal grandparents, S. N. Padmanabha Chetty and Parvathavardhini Thaayaar. His religious life was based on their guidance.

Our large family got split in terms of business and wealth around 1972. Our share consisted of the smallest business unit and properties that had been encroached upon. My father spent over a decade trying to iron out things for his father and his siblings. He ensured that his sister, Nirmala, was well taken care of. Father entered public life in 1974 by joining the Rotary Club of Coimbatore and was to one day become the Golden Jubilee President of the iconic club.

He learnt German under Professor Vaidyanathan while continuing to savor many magazines, newspapers, and books in both English and Tamil. I still remember him reading fairy tales like the Pied Piper of Hamlin for me and my brother. He would take us on long drives and tell us about great achievers. Father got into several manageable health issues and therefore he underwent medical operations about a dozen times. His bold and courageous approach made him see through many a crisis in his life. My great grandfather, P. A. Raju Chettiar, and my father enjoyed a good relationship. Father used to accompany him on every Kiruthikai to the Pazhani hill temple. He would also stay with him in Madras, whenever there was a medical requirement. He believed in removing the Drishti (Evil-eye) and in this aspect he was like his mother. 

I remember the way my father handled forks and spoons while serving and eating. He was known for his impeccable table manners and in this regard, I learnt much from him. His sense of dress and the ability to carry on with numerous types of footwear were amazing. From a regular dhoti, to panchagacham, blazer, suit, and safari, he was completely at home. He enjoyed English and Tamil poetry to the fullest and would compose poems. He held character and integrity above all other values. He wanted me and my brother to settle abroad, for he understood that the socialist government was down the drain. He perceived that the punitive taxes, like wealth tax, estate duty, and high rate of income tax, were coming in the way of nurturing entrepreneurship and business as such. He felt that wealth had to be created before being distributed. 

A socialist government had caused enormous difficulties for the well-meaning entrepreneurs of that era, and we were no exception. Father served the jewelry industry by being the Secretary of the Coimbatore Jewelers Association for 17 years (1981 –1998). He was extremely successful in his public life and had solved many a vexatious problem for scores of jewelers. He was amongst the team of people who were responsible for the removal of the Draconian Gold Control Act.

I still remember my father's communication to the union finance ministers about legalizing the import of gold. He used to tell them that national security costs would come down if gold was permitted legally into the country. Words of my father and his friends fell in the right ears and imports were permitted. He served as the President, Tamil Nadu Jewelers Federation; Senate Member, Bharathiar University; Joint-secretary, Coimbatore Arya Vysya Samajam; and President, C. A. V. S. Clinic. This clinic used to offer treatment at the cost of one rupee per patient. He had also served on the grievance cell of the Central Excise Department and remained as a Trustee of Marudhamalai Subramaniaswamy Temple.

An opportunity to meet various union ministers and chief ministers of Tamil Nadu had resulted in a lot of good for the jewelry sector and my father had played the key role. My great grandfather had put Coimbatore on the jewelry map of the world and my father had ensured that gold reforms were ushered in.

Today, the industries have gotten corporatized and have become major employers and taxpayers due to the efforts of Jewelers like my father. My uncle, V. Ravindranath, and my father enjoyed a fantastic working relationship at the Coimbatore Jewelers Association. Both the cousins acted in perfect harmony, and this benefitted the jewelers of Western Tamil Nadu in a big way. Father worked hard to ensure that the Presidency of the Tamil Nadu Jewelers Federation was made available to the jewelers from all over the state.

My mother and father enjoyed a fabulous matrimonial life. They were deeply attached to each other. My father, mother, my wife Sujatha, and my son Madhav used to enjoy their Sunday dinners at The Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club. He observed my reading habits and ensured that I got a huge supply of books regularly. Use of foul language, betting, and gambling were totally disliked by him. Father used to seek the blessings of his mother every morning before beginning the work for the day and he was very meticulous in creating systems for family businesses and wealth management. He put his interest second to that of the family and was very keen to keep everyone united. Though his wish to manufacture aluminum extrusions, food mixers, etc., had been brushed aside, he took it in the right spirit.

Thanks to the prodding of my father’s uncle, Vummidi Adisesh, of Chennai. My father and uncle, Sridharan, were the first jewelers from the South to participate in an International Jewelry Exhibition at Kuwait way back in 1979. My father was an excellent public speaker, writer, and poet. He would refer to the songs of Bharathi in most of his speeches. His ability to draft documents for trade bodies and the charitable organizations was legendary. Father liked to watch movies in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. He loved the sweet, laddu, and it was his favorite. Therefore, he would call my son, Madhav, as Laddupa.

My uncle, Ravindranath, and my father brought together the trade bodies of the old town area to regulate the unruly traffic and also to create civic infrastructure. A few new markets and a couple of public parking lots were created due to their efforts. He brought in an All-Candidate Meet at the time of the elections to the legislature and the parliament. In this regard, my father and his colleagues were pioneers in every sense. They were the first social innovators regarding the above-mentioned areas of activity. It perhaps took a decade or so for the others to follow. 

The Coimbatore Jewelers Association came up with a joint-security mechanism and it employed more than a dozen security guards for the bazaar area. Father used to get up in the middle of the night for the purpose of ensuring the security mechanism worked right. He was alert to the diverse kinds of burglaries, and this was thanks to the police department. It was so much so that he would be more or less able to tell the kind of thief who would have been associated with the theft. 

Several systems were brought into the annals of the Coimbatore Jewelers Association by my father and his colleagues. These systems gave us a sturdy foundation for the future. ‘Service above self,’ was his motto. My father was responsible for the manufacture of gold Anki (dress) for Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala in Kerala (Weighing 3.2 kgs). This was produced by our firm at the behest of D. Jayawardhanavelu of Lakshmi Machine Works, Coimbatore. This gave him an opportunity to visit Sabarimala on quite a few occasions.

My father’s interest in maintaining the family unity, reading good books, communication methods, and organizational techniques have inspired me a lot. I was able to understand the greatness of our culture, the seminal role played by our family in the field of jewelry and the entrepreneurial heritage of Coimbatore through him. His faith in me was reflected in the ventures started by him, Rajesh Financiers and Rajesh Films. I earnestly hope to live up to the expectations of my parents. They wanted me to be successful and charitable. My father’s life and my discussions with him made me understand the greater goals of life."

Mr. Rajesh Govindarajulu is one of the founding members of the Verandah Club Pvt. Ltd. He is a leading columnist, historian, jeweler, entrepreneur, and a heritage enthusiast who is earnestly working to revive the past in the light of the present. Experiential learning about the history of Coimbatore is his main course of interest and he is also a panel member of many colleges in the city.