We read history of man to learn lessons from past mistakes and also to get

inspiration from the men who changed the way we lived in forests among animals
once upon a time and brought us to the comfort and security of the social and
economic sphere. Men of great guts proved where there is a will, there is a way.
Where there is inspiration, there is aspiration and where there is aspiration, there is
achievement of higher order. The lives of ordinary people who have become
extraordinary merely by their strong will to change their lives as well as of others for
better need to be appreciated and assimilated for our own good. Selecting such
extraordinary people and narrating their lives in the following mails requires a lot of
time and energy. If this strenuous work can motivate our younger generation to
take a step forward to achieve something different from others, it will give me a
great satisfaction that I am not wasting my life only for my sake but continue to
work for others to improve their lives. Thats my inner conscience and thats the
command of God from within my heart.

A journey from empty pocket to 360 crores of rupees : Adayar Anand Bhavan
Rajus are a community of warriors who worked as soldiers to kings in olden days.
After the British established their rule in India, these traditional soldiers lost their job
and settled down in different pockets of barren land and became farmers. One such
settlement in Tamil Nadu is Rajupalayam which in course of time became
Rajapalayam. Singha Raja was one such farmer from Rajapalayam. He was a
strict disciplinarian and considered farming as the most virtuous employment as it
does not involve cheating anyone. Usually, there are a very few schools in villages
in those days and the farmers trained their sons to plough cultivate crops. In 1940s,
one of his sons by name Thiruppathi Raja decided to change the destiny of the
family. He argued with his father that it is possible to earn money without cheating
any one by doing business. His father did not agree with him and admitted him in
the list of Uruppadaatha Kazhuthaigal (useless donkeys).
Thiruppathi Raja set his foot on Chennai Marina Beach and got a job as a cleaner in
a make-shift hotel. His work is to wash the vessels and plates for 10 hours a day.
He got free food and free accommodation alongwith 10 more employees of the
hotel in a small room. As the room was having a single bath room, it will take 4
hours for everyone to take bath and attend duty at 6 am sharp. To avoid the rush,
he used to take bath in a common well situated near Ice House around 5 am and
presented at the hotel sharply by 6 am. When his shift was over, he did not go with
other servants to cinema and shopping but instead remained in the hotel to help
the head cook who was a Malayali by name Achyuthan Nair. Within a short period,
he learnt the art of making all the south Indian sweets from Nair. He was much

liked by the owner as well as the customers for his sweet smile and hard work.
However, bad luck waited to struck him. As he has to be in water for 10 hours to
wash vessels, slowly the hands and legs were infected. Still, he continued to work.
When the disease took a serious turn, he approached a doctor who gave medicine
and asked him not to touch water.
At around this time, one of his relatives at Bombay assured him to get a job in a
spinning mill. Thiruppathi Raja accepted the offer and shifted his base to Bombay.
He stayed with 5 of his co-workers in a small room and cooked his own food. When
others liked the food, they joined his mess. He got into an acquaintance with a
North Indian cook who stayed in the adjoining room and learnt from him how to
make delicious North Indian sweets. Suddently, there was a labour problem and the
spinning mill was closed. He lost his job. With whatever he saved by running a
small time mess, he shifted to a location where Tamil population has settled and
distributed Tamil weekly and monthly magazines at their door steps.
Simultaneously, he understood that the Tamilians were not able to cook their South
Indian breakfast like idli, appam and paniyaaram as the respective cooking vessels
were not available in Bombay. He purchased these vessels at whole sale price in
Kumbakonam and sold them to his Tamil magazine clients. Gradually, he picked up
business by selling other items like sarees, etc. purchased from different locations in
India.
Another Raju family who was well off at Rajapalayam heard about the sterling
character of Thiruppathi Raja and approached Singha Raja for an alliance of their
daughter Muthulakshmi with Thiruppathi Raja. Father wrote to his son at Bombay to
come for marriage. After marriage, when Thiruppathi Raja and Muthulakshmi
boarded the train to Bombay, Muthulakshmis father went to the train driver, gave
him Rs.2 and requested him to look after his daughter and son-in-law till they reach
Bombay! I remember my father telling that after his marriage, when he set off to
Delhi to join duty at Indian Air Force, my mothers mother and brother travelled with
them from Vadamadurai to Manapparai all along pleading my father to look after my
young mother well!
Two children were born to Muthulakshmi and they were named Venkatesa Raja and
Srinivasa Raja. Slowly, all the business run by Thiruppathi Raja were yielding profit.
Bad luck struck him again. It once happened, when he went on a purchase trip to
north, his elder son Venkatesa got seriously ill and Muthulaxmi due to her poor Hindi
knowledge could not approach anyone for help. Somehow, she managed to tend
the child till the father returned. She narrated her agonizing experience and
pleaded with her husband to return back to their native place and do some business
there. She refused to stay at Bombay anymore. Without having any way out, he
shifted his family to Rajapalayam. His father laughed at him telling I know, one
day you will return empty handed. Atleast, now you listen to my advice. Sugar
mills raised the demand for sugar cane. Better you cultivate sugar cane and learn
to be a traditional farmer. The son followed his fathers advice and utilized a

portion of the savings he brought from Bombay to cultivate sugar cane in their own
field. Bad luck struck again.
The rains lashed out and the entire village was flooded. All the sugar cane was
washed out. Thiruppathi Raja lost the entire money he invested in his farm. Both
the sons were studying in the village school and he did not want to disturb their
studies. He opened a sweet stall in Rajapalayam. As the population was less, the
business was running with no loss, no profit basis. Finally, he took a decision to take
his elder son and wife to Bangalore to set up a sweet stall in a Tamil speaking
locality there.
When he landed at Bangalore, he surveyed the locality to find that there are many
sweet stalls already running there. He felt that the people of Bangalore are
educated and health conscious. If he set up a sweet stall with glass cover cabinets,
he can ward off house flies which are the greatest enemy for the sweet stall
business. Moreover, he can make both south Indian as well as North Indian sweets
which he learnt from Nair, the cook friend at Bombay. Thus, he can have an edge
over other sweet stalls. Unfortunately, the little money he brought was not
sufficient to pay the advance for his house and to set up a decent sweet stall. He
was in a dilemma ordinary shop is not profitable but decent shop is expensive.
To do or not to do in this confusion while he was scratching his head day and
night, Muthulakshmi came to his rescue. He offered all her jewels except her
mangalsutram thaali to her husband to start a decent shop. While you are
struggling to keep our family boat on tumultuous waters, of what use are these
jewels to me please sell these and start your new business she consoled him.
Thiruppathi Raja went to a pawn broker and pledged the jewels instead of selling
them. Thus the new business started in Bangalore. His intuition worked. First
priority was for hygiene and taste. Second priority was innovation to keep
inventing new sweets both South Indian and North Indian. New customers started
flowing to his shop. His dream was about to come true but then tragedy struck
again.
Tamil Nadu won the case in Supreme Court to get Cauvery waters from Karnataka
but Karnataka refused to comply with the orders. There was mob violence in
Bangalore in which about 200 Tamilians were massacred. Thiruppathi Raja was
known for his best service to his customers and hence his shop escaped the
violence. The mob simply asked him to close the shop. After a week, he would
throw away all the sweets and make fresh sweets and open the shop. But within 2
days, again the Kannadigas started shouting horaatta which means poraattam in
Tamil and war in English. He has to frequently close and open the shop for a long
period of 4 months. His capital started eroding. He was unable to redeem his wifes
jewels. Jewels came for auction. His heart was broken. How many hopes followed
by failures in the life one can withstand? One of his friends who was from
Vannarappettai, Madras who was manufacturing agarbaties in Bangalore counselled

 It is impossible to run our business in this hostile environment. Better we shall

shift our business to Madras. Thiruppathi Raja was fed up shifting from one place to
another, one business to another. He thought of ending his life. At this moment,
Thiruppathi Rajas younger son Srinivasa Raja came to Bangalore from
Rajapalayam. Though he did not complete schooling, he suggested his father to
leave him and his mom at Bangalore to look after the business and take his elder
brother Venkatesha Raja to Madras and start a new sweet stall there. Younger sons
advice strikes the chord. Father agreed. He went with his elder son to his friends
house at Vannarappettai and started a new sweet stall. Before he left, he told his
twin mantra to his younger son keep inventing new sweets, work for 15 hours a
day. There was no other way to succeed.
God finally showered His blessings to the family of four who were working 15 hours
a day. Luck favoured them. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Governments agreed to set
up a Cauvery Water Tribunal with both of their representatives and Prime Minister as
the Chairman. Cauvery Horraata has thus came to an end. Srinivasa Raja though
very young for doing business followed his fathers twin mantra and profit started
flowing. Same thing happened at Vannarappettai also. Now, the elder son told his
father, Daddy, I will now look after this Vannarappettai stall, you can set up
another stall at Adayar. Thiruppathi Raja named his Adayar stall as Adayar Ananda
Bhavan and converted it into a full fledged hotel with modern machineries. New
varieties, hygiene, 15 hours hard work A2B was a grand success. A2 means
double A. A2B means Adayar Ananda Bhavan. People from Bombay, Calcutta and
Delhi who took their meals at A2B started asking Thiruppathi Raja to set up A2B in
their cities too. Thus, during his very life time, Thiruppathi Raja saw A2B spreading
its wings to all major cities of India.
After the parents demise, the two brothers took A2B to the entire globe. They
followed 3 mantras - No crack between brothers, 15 hours work, innovative
products. Today, A2B has 67 branches throughout the world and its annual turnover
is 350 crores rupees. The children of both the brothers have come to age to
shoulder their fathers responsibilities and are learning to work 15 hours a day!
Thiruppathi Raja and his wife Muthulakshmi are still sitting pretty in their house at
Chennai in the form of bronze idols. The entire family first worships them following
the Tamil proverb Annaiyum Pithaavum Munnari Deivam.
The photograph of the idols of legendary Thiruppathi Raja and his wife as well as
the family of both the brothers will be sent to your Whatsapp. Please transfer it to
your computer and preserve.
Endha soolnilaiyum orunaal kandippaaga maarum. Any adverse situation will
change for better one day or other. But we should not loosen the grip on our will.
Muyarchi Udayiyaar igazhchi Adaiyar. Adaiyar Ananda Bhavan is the best example.

Ookkattin kadhaigal kadal alaigazhai thodarum.

continue

The stories of inspiration will