January 2, 2016
The black cotton farmers of the Coimbatore region migrated from the Telugu speaking region of the Vijayanagar Empire five centuries ago. Coimbatore became a part of the Mysore Kingdom during the seventeenth century. A group of enterprising black cotton farmers sought an audience with the Wodeyar rulers of Mysore and got permission to establish Pappanaickenpalayam village in Coimbatore during the early part of the eighteenth century.
S.N. Rangaswamy Naidu and his wife Rangammal were blessed with four intelligent and capable sons – S.N.R. Chinnaswamy Naidu, Prof. P.R. Ramaswamy, S.N.R. Doraiswamy, and S.N.R. Venkatesalu. All their sons made a name for themselves while also contributing towards the growth and development of the Coimbatore region.
S.N.R. Venkatesalu completed his education at Ramakrishna Vidyalayam. Subsequently, young Venkatesalu married Velumani Ammal, daughter of the famous entrepreneur P.S.G. Ganga Naidu in 1943. He began his career by involving himself with the mills belonging to the family of P.S.G. Ganga Naidu.
The S.N.R brothers as Venkatesalu and his brothers were known, established several textile mills and Sri Ramakrishna Steels Industries Limited. To share their good fortune with the downtrodden, S.N.R. Venkatesalu and his brothers founded the S.N.R. Sons Charitable Trust and built the Ramakrishna Kalyana Mandapam along with a number of educational institutions over the years.
S.N.R. Venkatesalu was an industrious businessman and was ever active during his long career. Both Velumani Ammal and Venkatesalu were well connected with people from diverse backgrounds. Velumani Ammal was considered to be lucky and so a number of people sought her wishes before starting new ventures.
The S.N.R. Sons Charitable Trust was steered by Venkatesalu for about four decades. His hard work saw the setting up of Sri Ramakrishna Hospital and Sri Ramakrishna Dental College. Venkatesalu was a kind and benevolent person and would waive off the charges for needy patients visiting the hospital.
He was one of those rare administrators who would often meet patients and students. He was a lifelong learner and nothing stopped him from acquiring additional skills. Both Velumani Ammal and Venkatesalu learnt Hindi and they cleared a number of exams in the process. He was generous in lending S.N.R. Sons infrastructure without cost to a number of causes like Siruthuli or the annual dog show.
The Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club was his favourite haunt for a good part of his life and he served the 125 year old club as its President with aplomb for over 15 years.
S.N.R. Venkatesalu and Velumani Ammal were very close friends of the famous villain of Tamil cinema, M.N. Nambiar. They also enjoyed a close bond with G. Varadaraj, the doyen of Rotary and a former Member of Parliament who was the youngest son of P.S.G. Ganga Naidu and the brother of Velumani Ammal.
Many film celebrities such as Sivaji Ganesan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikant, Muthuraman, Vishnu Vardhan, Rishi Kapoor and D. Rama Naidu used to join M.N. Nambiar, S.N.R. Venkatesalu and G. Varadaraj on their annual pilgrimages to the Sabarimala Ayyappan Temple.
Bharathiar University conferred on him an honorary doctorate and he was also awarded the “Seva Rathna” in recognition of his contribution to society.
Towards his later years, Venkatesalu gradually withdrew himself from worldly activities and even resigned from the membership of the Cosmopolitan Club. He belonged to a tribe of entrepreneurs who put Coimbatore on the global map and will be missed by the city.
Work and worship were the eyes of Venkatesalu and he firmly believed in the teachings of Gitacharya – Lord Krishna. Velumani Ammal passed away on a Tuesday and thereafter Venkatesalu began to fast and maintain a vow of silence on all Tuesdays for thirty years of his life. He too died on a Tuesday.
(The author is Rajesh Govindarajulu, a scholar specialising in history, art and culture)