Marathons & Walkathons

A walk to remember those who can`t remember` screamed  a banner carried by a few senior citizens as a part of a campaign by the Dignity Foundation to commemorate the World Alzheimer`s Day, recently. Terry Fox Run is an annual non-competitive charity event held over 600 cities in 53 countries exclusively for funding cancer research. Then there are Half Marathons, Full Marathons organised by various bodies to create awareness about some issue or the other.  There are also `Cyclothons`  and `Swimathons`  besides `Alertothon` conducted by an NGO called ALERT devoted to first aid &  emergency care training. I am sure there are many other `thons`about which I am not aware of. However,  a few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to see a small group of tiny tots in their baby tricycles going up & down the Bessy holding  tiny placards with some slogans. It was appropriately called `Kiddathon` organsied by EuroKids Preschools, a popular play school for kids. It was cute sight to behold!

As a regular walker at Bessy, as the Elliots beach front in Besant Nagar is popularly known, I witness such events almost every other weekend. Bessy is used either as a starting point or finishing point or both.

When I was going through a recent issue of a local  newspaper, I read about seven such events over one weekend in Chennai..Yes, the number of Walkathons, Marathons and Runs have grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years that almost every other weekend, Bessy is crowded with enthusiastic citizens of Chennai from all walks of life, of all age groups and all income levels.  Chennai can be truly described as the `Marathon/ Walkathon capital`. Many   come from distant suburbs to participate in such events.  The causes for which such events are held are as varied as the kind of people who participate. For most of them it is an interesting outing on a weekend morning coupled with a service objective. After the event many of them, who come with families also spend some time on the beach and patronize the food stalls nearby.

While the events are for worthy causes, the regular walkers who use the Bessy for their morning constitutionals find the events disturbing. Not only the beach fronts but also the approach roads leading to the beach fronts are blocked  by the traffic police for all kinds of automobiles- both the two wheeler and four wheeler varieties. The locals, many of them senior citizens, find the events of great nuisance value. They don`t like the invasion of their privacy by `outsiders`. Many activists in the area have started protesting to the police and corporation against granting permission for such events not only because it upsets their routine but also because the crowd leaves the beach front dirty. Bessy becomes ‘messy’!

As one of them, while I have my sympathies with the locals, I do feel that the `Locals` cannot claim exclusive rights for  using  the Bessy. It belongs to all Chennaivasis. If some of them want to use it as a venue for group activities, we should not object. They have a right to do so. After all, these activities happen only for 30 to 40 days in a year- the rest of the days Bessy remains the exclusive privilege of the locals. While there is scope for the traffic police to manage the crowds better, I feel we should not object to such events being held at Bessy.

Let us learn to live and let live!

This article has appeared in the 23 Feb.-02,March, 2019 issue of Adyar Tmes undermy cpoumn `Rajan`s Random Reflections`

To be a Vegetarian To be a Vegetarian

  I discovered the problems faced by `pure vegetarians` when they are travelling abroad during  my first ever trip overseas in 1976 ; a five week trip to five countries under a travel grant from Round Table India. While I had no problem in getting South Indian vegetarian fare in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Colombo,  I had a problem when I visited cities in Australia & New Zealand as a part of the trip. I remember visiting various restaurants with my hosts.  Whenever I ordered for a pure vegetarian dish, the response from the waiter would invariably be `No Problem ,Sir`. And every time I would be served a plate of  king sized boiled potatoes, tomatoes,  or carrots arranged neatly on the plate surrounded by celery & cabbage leaves. Occasionally the potato will appear in the form of finger chips on the plate. I was  expected to add pepper & salt to the dishes . I would also add tomato & chilly sauces to make the bland vegetables palatable. When this happened where ever we went to eat, I started shuddering at the thought of having meals in restaurants. Looking at my disappointment, some of the kind hosts with whom I was staying,  offered to cook  special Indian meals at home with some tips from me. I can never forget the delicious Vegetable Pulav which my Australian host cooked for me in Perth without any help from me.

After that experience, on all my foreign trips, especially official trips where I was attending meetings or conferences for a couple of days or more  I began to carry some podis ( dal powders), pickles, Vattha kuzhambu paste, banana or potato chips etc. As soon as I checked into a hotel, I would rush to a nearby super bazaar to buy some milk, yogurt, bread, cheese slices  and bananas and stock them in the refrigerator in the room to provide me a back-up meal for lunch  or breakfast,  if needed.   In the evenings, if there were no official dinners, I would order a plate of white rice from room service  and  have a sumptuous , three course South Indian meal in my hotel room.

 I remember once I hosted a dinner for six South Indian delegates in my room. The delegates from Andhra were excited beyond words when I placed on the table a bottle of `Avakkai pickle` and also Ghee which I had carried with me during that trip. I found this more economical than hunting for an Indian restaurant when I am abroad and spending a lot of dollars on a taxi  for a vegetarian  meal which cost only a couple of dollars. And remember, those were the days when we were allowed  only a limited Foreign exchange. So every penny counted!

I must confess that over the years I  became an `Eggitarian` or `Eggarion` as they say,  so that I could  have at least a sumptuous breakfast in most of the Hotels where I stayed.

The world has come a long way since my early experiences of travelling abroad. Today vegetarianism   has caught up in a big way all over the world. Getting a decent vegetarian meal in most of the restaurants abroad is no more an issue.  Italian restaurants serving delicious cheese and vegetarian Pizzas also offer a good alternative to vegetarians when they travel abroad. Besides opening of  Saravana  Bhavans  &  Sangeethas in many cities of the world are helping a staunch vegetarian to survive without having to become an `Eggitarian` like me.

Published in the Adyar Times Issue dated 18-24^th February,2019 under my column `Rajan`s Random Reflections`

Giri Stores- A retail chain with a difference

Mylapore is home to many iconic shops. One of them near the main entrance to the Kapaleeshwarar temple is the Giri Trading Agency , popularly known as Giri Stores- a  `One stop shop for all religious products`. Interestingly, Giri stores has its origin not in Chennai but  in Matunga, known in the olden  days as the `Little Madras` of Mumbai, where `Mamis in madisar ( 9 yards)sarees and Mamas  in their veshties were  a common sight. One such `Tam Brahm` from Tirupunithura in Kerala, V K Swarna Gireeshwaran  alias Giri,  an employee of a company , decided to quit a  well paying job in 1951 to start a  shop on a `Bakda` ( push cart) near Matunga Central station, selling religious books. As a spokesman for the Giri family, T.S.Ranganathan, the youngest son of Giri, whom I interviewed for this article told me, `There is a story behind, why my father  chose to sell religious books.  Early in his life he was invited to an  Upanayanam ( Sacred Thread) Ceremony of a friend`s son. He  wanted to present the boy with a book on `Sandhyavandanam`( a brahmin ritual). He could not find a copy  anywhere in Mumbai.. The non availability of such religious books in Mumbai , gave him an idea to  start a business of selling religious books`.

 Within a couple of years  the shop moved from push cart to a small 200 sq ft space opposite  the Matunga Post office near an Irani Restaurant. In the year 1990 when the owner of the restaurant decided to close shop he sold the 500 sq.ft space to Giri. Subsequently, Giri Trading  agency, was also selling puja items, curios, handicrafts, temple jewellery, CDs of religious songs besides  religious, spiritual and self help books in a number of languages.

Right from the beginning Giri had decided to take the help of his family in running the shop. Not only his wife Lakshmi  who was a pillar of strength, but his growing children were also encouraged to help out  during their spare times.. This exposure would ensure that all his nine  children were totally committed to their father`s dream of taking the  Sanathana Dharma idea forward.

Giri knew the real big market was in Chennai. So, in 1971, even while running the shop in Mumbai, he decided to open a Giri Stores,  occupying 300 sq ft  space  on the ground floor of a building  close to Kapaleeshwarar temple in Mylapore, where even today the shop is located. A few years after the start of the Chennai shop,  Giri  moved his family  consisting of his wife and the  younger children  to Chennai leaving behind his elder children  to look after the Mumbai shop.

Giri was a great believer in Ayyappa ( one of his sons was called Ayyappan)and never failed to make a trip to Sabarimala every year. He decided to sell items required by pilgrims visiting Sabarimala like the black dhoti and other related ritual  items. Simultaneously, the shop also began stocking items required for various other South Indian festivals, besides a whole range of traditional gift items,  curios , handicrafts, temple jewellery and dance  jewellery . Today, the shop inventory covers 1,50,000 products .

 In 1986 the group had  established an  audio recording studio to produce religious and Bhakthi music, in house. Ayappan  was in charge of the unit . Ranganathan says, “I used to sing  inside Kapaleeshwar temple and sell cassettes. Then, I sang on All India Radio.  My family thought it was a good idea for me to record for our own  business. My  first recording, a Shiva Stuti was released on Shivratri day.  From then till now we must have sold about 50,000 copies”.

The shop was by now  on a fast growth track. Luckily another  2500 square feet in the same building  was available in 1991 which the shop acquired . A  small  shop had transformed into a big `organized religious  retail store`, paving the way for many more such stores in India. Today, the Giri stores  has six branches in Mumbai,  seven in Chennai besides Kancheepuram, Madurai, Coimbatore, Secunderabad, Bangalore and Delhi. There is a dealer representing the group in Australia and an office in Texas U.S.A .There are over 400 employees working in these  units . It  also has a big warehouse  occupying 15000 sq.ft area in Mangadu on the outskirts of Chennai.

As a step towards backward integration, the group  started a publication division with a printing press attached ; to produce  number of religious books in different  languages, again in house.  While Meenakshi, one of the sisters  based in Chennai looks after the printing aspect,  Raman, elder to Ranganathan  takes care of the entire publishing business.  In 1990, the shop had already started bringing out  a monthly religious magazine in Tamil called `Kamakoti` with the blessings of Kanchi  Paramacharya, which is continuing to be published . 

Giri passed away in 1998 followed by his elder son Ayyappan in 1999. Ayyappan   was a driving force and considered a man of ideas in the family. Though the double loss did affect the group, the surviving children of  Giri, who were already  involved in the business took charge and decided to take the legacy of the father forward..

In  2000 the company converted itself into a private limited company, known as Giri Trading Agency P.Ltd., with all the siblings owning shares  and each in charge of specific area of activity. Mrs Sharada Prakash the eldest daughter of Giri is now  the Managing Director of the company.

One of the very popular items marketed by the group is the `KOLUPADI`- traditionally referred to the specially assembled  racks looking like  steps on which idols of variety of gods and goddesses are displayed during Navarathri festival  in Tamil Nadu. Kasi Viswanathan, the only non graduate in  the family but who is an engineer by instinct, designed  a multipurpose  rack system  made of plastic which can be assembled  as Kolupadis or as office storage racks. This is a very popular item which accounts for almost 5% of the total sales of the shop.

 Ranganathan says, “Earlier we were known for selling only  religious stotra books and now we are a brand—Giri—identified with Indian culture and tradition.”

How is the company facing the impact of technology on  both their  publishing and audio /video business. Ranganathan,  who has a flair for technology,  has an answer` Yes, when the digital technology came in, our remunerative  audio cassette business collapsed  and  we were in trouble. We took an early decision to go digital with our audio business with a  number of initiatives.  One of them is the  concept of aggregating music and offering the same to the customers through an APP. This  allows them to down load any song of their choice classified under a singer, music director,  raga or even thalam . Special Kiosks have been established in all the Giri shops where the customers can do this and get the collection transferred to  their thumb drives, for a fee. We have aggregated over 5,00,000 songs in our portfolio covering, religious, carnatic and even film music.  As a content aggregator we are also available on other platforms like Youtube, I Tunes, Saavn, Spotify etc. besides providing the `ringtone` facility. Though our products are available through online sites like Amazon, Flip Kart or Big Basket, they account for only 5% of our sales. Our major business continues to be at our retail stores.  Though  there are Web portals trying to sell similar religious products,  the Giri brand has a lot of credibility in the market”.

The company started using Computerised billing from as early as 2000 and a few years ago they have also introduced `bar coding` of their products for better inventory control.

Srinivasan, another sibling is in charge of the sales of the entire group. Every year he takes a group of  staff selected on merit to a trip abroad  to participate in a  festival at the Kamakshi Temple in HUM, Germany. In this temple he was instrumental  in installing  a 15 ft high statue of Lord Krishna. The company also has regular training programmes for not only the staff at all levels but also the family members attending  special programmes to keep pace with the latest developments.

The group  runs a family trust called `Lakshmi Giri Trust`encouraging first time singers in classical and devotional music and dance. The Trust also supports a few Veda Patashalas in the city.

Very recently the company has acquired  the rear portion of the building where the shop is currently  located  in Mylapore- increasing the floor space from 6000 sq ft to 11,000 sq ft.  A big leap forward! Giri Stores has now  entrance to the shop from both  the Kapaleeshwarar temple side and from North Mada Street.   

Though it has taken over six decades for Giri stores to reach the enviable  position it has reached today, the Giri family is confident that the long process has only helped to lay a solid foundation for the business because, `We are not here to just make money. But the whole family believes in carrying the message of Sanathana Dharma to  people. We also  believe in giving a contemporary outlook to our culture and tradition. I am sure that this steadfast belief will help us to  take  the company to greater heights  in the years to come.`

While many multinational retail groups are biting the dust  in India, it is good to see a local, religious retail chain  doing well .

This article has appeared in the 1-15^th February,2019 issue of Madras Musings