Coimbatore, Nov. 24
How many sobriquets does Coimbatore have !
"Manchester of South India", "Jewellery Capital of India", "Foundry City" "birth place of motor" "Asia's pump city", "wet grinder city," and "mixie city", and the latest is “Retirement Capital”.
These are not just hyperboles. Each and every term is pregnant with meaning. It is the result of, as Churchill would say, "the blood, sweat and tears" of several individuals and the achievement of the citizens of this great cosmopolis as a whole.
To plagiarise the metaphysical poet John Donne, I could say "salubrious climate and delicious Siruvani water do not a Coimbatore make". But it is much more than that. I could very well say that it is because of lack of water and resources that Coimbatore is what it is today.
After all, "sweet are the uses of adversity", and "necessity is the mother of invention". Will it be too much of an exaggeration to compare Coimbatore with Japan, which also does not have any raw material but still ranks one among the global giants in manufacturing ?
Following is a list of five stalwarts who lived for Coimbatore and their contribution that has made it the city it is today. It is however, not exclusive:
Sir Robert Stanes (1841-1936)
He was diametrically opposite to what is normally thought of Britishers, especially by the Indians groaning under the foreign yoke, as slave-drivers. He was an epitome of what Shakespeare said: “milk of human kindness” and one who spent a major portion of his life at Coimbatore serving humanity, wedded to philanthropy.
He was “the first industrialist of Coimbatore” who established the famous Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving Mills in 1888, founded the United Nilgiris Tea Company, a tyre retreading business, a fertilizer business, motor works and also a textile mill.
The Stanes School was born when he was just 21. As he wanted to ensure quality education, he brought in a teacher from England. Even as the first Chairman of the Coimbatore Municipal Council, he contributed a lot.
P.S. Govindaswamy Naidu
It is difficult to envisage a Coimbatore without P.S. Govindaswamy Naidu (PSG) and family. Its contribution to the development of Coimbatore into a city is humongous as the family has created global wealth and vast international human resource network. PSG has now become a virtual empire consisting of several industries and educational institutions. The four sons of Govindaswamy Naidu — P.S.G. Venkataswamy Naidu, Diwan Bahadur P.S.G. Rangaswamy Naidu, PSG Ganga Naidu and PSG Narayanaswamy Naidu – were so philanthropic that they made “charity” their “fifth brother”. Thus was born PSG &Sons Charities in 1926 with a corpus of Rs 2,01,116, a princely sum those days, equivalent to several crores these days.
Sarvajana (meaning for all) School was the first to be established by the family at Peelamedu in 1924. Today, the several PSG institutions have educated lakhs of students and created innumerable entrepreneurs and provided livelihood for several thousands of both the skilled and the unskilled and have made what Coimbatore is today.
Swamikannu Vincent (1883-1942)
As Coimbatore has always been proud of its enterprise and innovation, Swamikkannu Vincent is a sterling example for both these qualities. He was a man who delivered several firsts to Coimbatore – cinema, man-made electricity and a printing press using electricity. A draftsman at the age of 25, he was catapulted into celebrity status in just 7 years by being the first in the country to have brought in cinema. It was because of his efforts Coimbatore came to be known as the “South Wick “of the World of Cinema. He did what none would have even dreamt of in those days.
It was in 1895, the Lumiere brothers introduced cinema to Parisians. It was Vincent who brought that technology to Coimbatore in just a decade. He established a touring theatre named Edison Cinematograph in 1907 and took it to several cities, and even Afghanistan. Then he built the Variety Hall Theatre. Then, Vincent purchased generators to power the movie house. It was the first man-made electricity that brightly lit not only his theatre but also the mansion near that theatre he had built for his family. In addition, his road was also brightly lit thanks to the same electricity.
C.S. Rathinasabapathi Mudaliar (1886-1956)
In spite of all the troubles that Tamil Nadu faces on the water front, Siruvani and Coimbatore still remain Siamese twins, thanks to one man – Conjeevaram Sadasivam Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar (CSR).
The only person to remain the chairman of Coimbatore municipality for 14 years (1921-36) consecutively, it was CSR who was able to respond to the poignant calls from myriad mouths of Coimbatore and ensured that their parched hearts were assuaged through the delicious waters of Siruvani in 1929. He was the one who speeded up the pace of the Pykara hydel project that gave electricity to Coimbatore. Both these achievements were of historic significance. Interestingly, he even managed to get some grant for the Siruvani project from the Government also. Hence, he is deemed the Father of Modern Coimbatore.
It was he who envisaged development of the city with a population of just about 1 lakh, even before it started spreading its wings. He started creating suburbs including Rathna Sabapathi Puram (RS Puram) and Ram Nagar. Coimbatore became the best among the districts of Madras Presidency because of a fabulous network of roads and excellent civic infrastructure.
Sir R.K. Shanmukham Chetty
Sir R.K. Shanmukham Chetty, the first Finance Minister of Independent India. It was Rajaji, who recommended RKS for the most prestigious post in the first cabinet because of his extremely impressive credentials. A lawyer, and a spell-binding speaker, he started as the Vice Chairman of the Coimbatore Municipality and entered the Madras Legislative Council.
He got elected to the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and also as the President of the Central Legislative Assembly. He took part in three missions to the US, Canada and England and safeguarded the national interests by his able advocacy and forceful plea.
On becoming the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Chetty had to handle some daunting tasks including handing over of Rs 55 crore to Pakistan as desired by Gandhiji and, the repatriation of sterling balances. Besides, he presented two budgets. He was the Vice Chancellor of Annamalai University also. He had done treatises in Tamil for ‘Silappadhikaram’ and ‘Kutralakuravanji’ and launched the Tamil Isai movement. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce, the South Indian Mill Owners’ Association and the South India Textile Research Association in Coimbatore. It was because of him the ACC Cement works at Madukkarai came into being and he was the founder of Vasantha Mills.