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. The stories of inspiration will continue