The family of "Salimandharam" V. Rangaswamy Naidu was well known in Peelamedu due to their involvement with a large Thanneer Pandal which provided water for passersby over 100 years ago.
The father Venugopal Naidu was a devout person who spent a lot of time at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Sri Rangam. Eventually, Venugopal Naidu and his friends established a “Desika Ramanuja Koodam”, a choultry for pilgrims in the year 1915.
It’s pertinent to remember that the processional deity of Lord Ranganathaswamy has been arriving on a lovely palanquin in order to accept the offerings made by the members of the P.S.G & Sons for a long time.
R. Nammalwar Naidu, the founder of Radhakrishnan & Co (established in 1942) was born to Janaki Ammal and V. Rangaswamy Naidu in the year 1913. A part of his education happened at Sarvajana Higher Secondary in Peelamedu and later on, he underwent a bit of technical education at Chennai. Coimbatore was a bustling town those days thanks to the establishment of a number of mills and Alwar Naidu began his career by taking up electrical contracts in the new ventures. A lot of mill wiring was done by his team and since all this was connected to the erection of equipment he became known to the texpreneurs of his times. This personal rapport did him well all his life. Alwar Naidu began his trading career as an independent supplier to the fast-growing Radhakrishna Mills and was quick to win the trust and confidence of the young and dynamic Venkataswamy Naidu who eventually came to be known as the Birla of South India.
The growth of industry in Coimbatore assumed a gargantuan level with the availability of power from the Pykara project which came up in 1933. This encouraged a number of youngsters to take the plunge and Alwar Naidu joined the bandwagon by founding Radhakrishna & Co in the year 1942. The availability of power was a boon to the farmers for the power driven motor pump sets saved them from a lot of trouble. Alwar Naidu was quick to grasp this and began selling the British owned AEI (Associated Electrical Industries) motors along with the pumps made by DPF of Puliakulam in Coimbatore. This combination became a runaway hit and the printed quotation pad which contained a list of items along with the prices in Tamil attracted the people from the mofussil to visit the store near the railway level crossing on Avinashi Road more often.
Radhakrishna & Co began selling the Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalayam pump sets which were created by the eminent educationist T.S. Avinashilingam in order to raise money for the institution founded by him. Alwar Naidu used to have a markup of 10% those days and would tell his customers that quality was more important than price. Radhakrishna & Co became famous for every other electrical item however the pump set business was dear to Awar Naidu. He used to inquire about the sale of pump sets much later on an everyday basis, even during his summer trips to Ooty with his family. Alwar Naidu used to market MEM Switches, the British monoblock pump made by Worthington Simpson & Co while also selling products made by Gordon Woodroff. Once AEI was taken over by GE, Alwar Naidu added the name to his hoardings and his love for the products made by the British company never diminished.
Alwar Naidu was joined by A.K.V. Ramraj in the year 1963 and he recalled some facts during his conversation with Simplicity, “I remember Alwar Naidu recommending the AEI slippering motor for rice mills for it was extremely reliable. Later on motors were used by industries who went into manufacturing. V.N. Ramachandran of Premier Mills used to visit our store and ask for the purchase price list. On getting it he used to add a 5% margin for each order. G. Ramaswamy was also close to us and Peelamedu Venkataswamy Naidu (RVS) used to call up personally and place orders with us. RVS had motivated and supported Alwar Naidu from the very beginning. Uthamaramaswamy Naidu was an important customer. My father in law Alwar Naidu used to share facts about his connection with G.T. Narayanaswamy of Soundararaja Mills. The well-dressed G.T. Narayanasamy Naidu used to stay at the Woodlands Hotel and was known to be a good-looking charismatic person. Those days all the promotional material used to come by post and all our inquiries were collected by our staff from Post Box number 3736 which belonged to us. Our grams 'bulb' was well known until the arrival of other modes of communication. Crompton was one more company which did a lot of business with us."
“Alwar Naidu used to wear a silk shirt and dhoti while shifting to cotton during summer. He used to visit the Cosmopolitan Club regularly from the mid-sixties of the last century. Initially the family stayed at R.S. Puram before moving over to Arts College Road about sixty years ago. The bungalow had a godown and a private line was used as the mode of communication between the shop and the godown. Hard working Alwar Naidu was a vegetarian teetotaler and he used to smoke cigars. He used to play cards with Johar, N.C. Lakshmana Row and G.K. Sundaram at the club. Peedampalli Raju Naidu was close to him. Radhakrishna & Co was always quick to identify the next line of business and take it up quickly," added A.K.V. Ramraj.
Alwar Naidu was married to Rajamma of Pappanaickenpalayam and the couple was blessed with Santhalakshmi Ramraj and Vijayalakshmi Venkatesan. “My parents were hard working and punctual. My father was particularly fond of kids and was with them all the time. His six grandchildren and kids of our near and dear were at home all the time. He invested a lot in a video deck in order to let the children enjoy cinemas at home at a time when it was a luxury. He used to drive all by himself and had a personality which was unique. He had played badminton and was always seen wearing his nice Omega watch. He was a helpful man. My father believed in savings and he followed up with matters connected with investments virtually every day, “stated Santhalakshmi Ramraj, the first daughter of Alwar Naidu.
“Grandfather was a visionary trader who kept stock of every electrical item under the sun. If something was not available to us you could never find it elsewhere. Ours was a one-stop store which followed the process of natural selection," shared the energetic A.R. Srinivasan, who is at Radhakrishna & Co which has completed its Platinum Jubilee.
Firms like Radhakrishna & Co were run by pioneers like R.Nammalwar Naidu who understood the needs of the times. They did much to provide the best of products and services which added value to the trade and industry of Coimbatore at a time when the city was catapulting itself into the business map of the country.