Rasavadai Iyer is 66 years old. His real name is Subramaniam. He is also known as Thayirvadai Iyer. Rasavadai Iyer was born to Seshambal and Mahadevan. He had done his schooling up to seventh standard at the CSI School. Seshambal had brought up the family and Rasavadai Iyer used to work in Sri Krishna Bhavan on Big Bazaar Street. "Sri Krishna Bhavan was founded by N.K.Mahadeva Iyer of Sri Krishna Sweets. His father was Krishna Iyer. I used to be a supplier in the outlet. The day used to begin by 6:30 AM and the outlet would be closed by 8: 30 PM. Filter coffee was priced at 40 paise and Nescafe coffee used to be 50 paise. The coffee crowd was predominant until 8 AM and the tiffin people would follow thereafter. A number of commission mundies existed those days and farmers coming over for business were our customers. Two Semmudu Gounder brothers with a murukku meesai ( curled up moustache ) used to have a heavy tiffin at Sri Krishna Bhavan and the bill used to come up to Rs.3.50 those days. I remember the jeweler P.A.R.Viswanathan Chettiar winning the film distributors association election and he was felicitated with a big rose garland. He had placed an order for special othappams with Sri Krishna Bhavan and it was delivered at Raja Theatre, Murugan Theatre and Gopalapuram in a Fiat car. Our special othappam used to contain milagu ( pepper ), jeeragam, mundiri ( cashews ) and nei ( ghee ). It was loved by everyone. I learnt much while serving in Sri Krishna Bhavan," stated Rasavadai Iyer.
Rasavadai Iyer is 66 years old. His real name is Subramaniam. He is also known as Thayirvadai Iyer. Rasavadai Iyer was born to Seshambal and Mahadevan. He had done his schooling up to seventh standard at the CSI School. Seshambal had brought up the family and Rasavadai Iyer used to work in Sri Krishna Bhavan on Big Bazaar Street. "Sri Krishna Bhavan was founded by N.K.Mahadeva Iyer of Sri Krishna Sweets. His father was Krishna Iyer. "I used to be a supplier in the outlet. The day used to begin by 6:30 AM and the outlet would be closed by 8: 30 PM. Filter coffee was priced at 40 paise and Nescafe coffee used to be 50 paise. The coffee crowd was predominant until 8 AM and the tiffin people would follow thereafter. A number of commission mundies existed those days and farmers coming over for business were our customers. Two Semmudu Gounder brothers with a murukku meesai ( curled up moustache ) used to have a heavy tiffin at Sri Krishna Bhavan and the bill used to come up to Rs.3.50 those days. I remember the jeweler P.A.R.Viswanathan Chettiar winning the film distributors association election and he was felicitated with a big rose garland. He had placed an order for special othappams with Sri Krishna Bhavan and it was delivered at Raja Theatre, Murugan Theatre and Gopalapuram in a Fiat car. Our special othappam used to contain milagu ( pepper ), jeeragam, mundiri ( cashews ) and nei ( ghee ). It was loved by everyone. I learnt much while serving in Sri Krishna Bhavan," stated Rasavadai Iyer.
The hard working Rasavadai Iyer worked for 8 years in Sri Krishna Bhavan. He quit his job on 2/2/1978. Thereafter he began serving under the caterer Dorai Iyer while also making and selling vadais during the extra time. "I learnt cooking from Dorai Iyer. My mother gave me the push. It would not have been possible without her hard work. She used to grind the bhatter for years. We purchased a grinding stone for Rs.40 and a cycle for Rs.165, the vadachatti, vadikatti and jaarini were got from Rao kadai. Madras Metal Mart supplied the Aluminium Thooku. The total investment was around Rs.500 and the first day raw material input stood at Rs.14.50. I was able to sell the produce for Rs.37 and made about Rs.20 plus everyday. The purchases were made from Kannan Store in the market area. Earlier the salary grew from Rs.5 per week to Rs.15 per week in the restaurant. This income helped me to get my only sister Annapoorani Rajagopal married. My business was centered around Big Bazaar Street and a little bit in Oppanakkara street.
A fire wood stove was used for cooking and we cooked from the our house which was belonged to the Nanjappa Rao Sathram family ( Bombay Anand Bhavan neighbourhood ). Business was during the morning and evening hours," added Rasavadai Iyer while showing a photograph of his mother.
Rasavadai Iyer became a manufacturer of vadais and he used to sell vadais at the rate of Rs.8 per 100. The retail price had been 10 paise per vadai. Quite a few people used to buy vadais in bulk from him and sell it in the market regularly. Those were times when seeing a Rs.100 note was a great thing. The inflation of the seventies changed everything eventually. Rasavadai Iyer became a successful vadapreneur and his sales shot up to over Rs.2000 per day. Meanwhile he got married to A.S.Pushpa, the daughter of Alampallam Sundaram in the December of 1983. "I used to work too. kai murukkus and particularly seer murukkus were my speciality. Radha Anna, the caterer used to allot work for me. I have worked in Kalyana Mandapams as part of his team. We bought a place in Ashok Nagar ( 1990 ) and built a house in 1991. It was decided to bring up our sons Mahadevan and Sundaram well. They got educated and are successful now. Glad to tell you that my mother in law saw them coming up. Our grandchild is named Subramaniam but we call him Rakshan. My husband began to cater after the house was built. His first assignment was at the residence of Rajaram Naidu whose son was a doctor. He stopped door to door sales by 2003 and took up catering thereafter," recalled Rasavadai Iyer's wife A.S.Pushpa. His aunt Konamma had been working as a bhatter grinding person those days. She used to be paid quarter anna in each household as charges. Rasavadai Iyer had come from an economically weaker section of the society and had come up due to his hard work.
" I had to take the plunge because sales used to be poor during Diwali for people would eat a lot of sweets at that time. Catering was initially done only during the week ends. I used to cook for a minimum of 15 people and would be paid Rs.400 per day. My customers were many. Lakhs of people must have eaten the vadais made by me. I remember Govind sir of P.A.Raju Chettiar, Shekhar sir of RV Jewellers, Rajalakshmi & Co Shekhar sir, Krishna & Co Sampath sir, Ramu & Co Nachimuthu sir, Ramprakash Jewellery Devadas sir, S.Ramalingam Jewellery sir. I cannot leave out one name too for these people bought from me everyday. Later Ravi sir started Sri RV Jewellery in Raja Street, I began to supply there also. He used to like the vadais and I am grateful. Ayudha pooja was a time for orders. Members of the jewellery association bought from me. The association had functioned for decades in a property belonging to P.A. Raju Chettiar I used to make a number of items - Paruppu vadai, bhajji, bonda, sundal, kesari, ulundhu vadai, poosanikai halwa, rasavadai, thayirvadai, chutney vadai, medhu pakkoda, thool pakkoda, javvarisi bonda, urulaikizhangu bonda, kara bonda, kathirikai bhajji and Mysore bonda. Really happy to state that I have cooked food for 5 generations of people. My sons used to sell door to door and particularly my second son Sundaram was keen to do so. He felt that if others could buy from me and sell, why not him. Both my sons helped me. One would wash the vessels and the other used to clean up the house. I am really happy to talk about my experiences today," smiled Rasavadai Iyer.
Come Navarathri and Rasavadai Iyer gets really busy. He gets up by 2 AM and has a bath before proceeding to cook Naivedhyam at the Sri Vasavi Kannika Parameswari Amman Temple in Vysial Street. "I make the offerings for Navarathri. This is for offering the deity. The food that is distributed is made by another set of people. Elakkai Sadham, Thayir Saadham, Sarkarai Pongal, Paasiparuppu Saadham, Avusu and a number of other items are made by me," added Rasavadai Iyer.
"My husband used to give me Rs.50 and I used to spend it on the household. Account would be provided even for 50 paise. Resources were scarce and we had to struggle a lot as a family," smiled the wife Pushpa. The family had worked hard and this helped them to come up in life. Rasavadai Iyer and his family are a classic case of how hard work makes life better for the legally unprivileged belonging to the economically weaker section of the society.
The experiences of Rasavadai Iyer are an eye opener. His story demonstrates the fact that hard work and quality of service are the real resources which help people to come up in life.