Krishna Vadhiyar was a popular personality who used to perform poojas and also act as a ' event manager ' for auspicious occasions over 30 years ago
Krishna Vadhiyar was a popular personality who used to perform poojas and also act as a ' event manager ' for auspicious occasions over 30 years ago. He was born with 15 siblings to Appathurai Vadhiyar ( Ramanarayanan ) and Ammani Ammal who was known as Parvathi in the year 1920. Perunthalmanna at Kerala happens to be the native place of this Tamil speaking family. Due to economic problems the young Krishna Vadhiyar moved over to Coimbatore at the age of 12 in the year 1932. His brother in law Venkatarama Ganapatigal absorbed him as an assistant immediately and took care of the lad by keeping him at his residence in Telugu Brahmin Street.
Krishna Vadhiyar had to learn ' Purohitam ' ( procedures connected with worship ) under his brother in law for it was not possible to learn in a patashala ( school for Purohitam ) because 3 of his brothers were already enrolled for the same purpose. He had to study under his relative because it was not possible to get many people from the same family admitted into the same programme those days for the society believed in broad basing the oppourtunities available on an equitable basis.
Eventually Krishna Vadhiyar became a ' Purohit ' ( Priest ) and over a period of time he began conducting marriages on a turn key basis. His work consisted of hiring cooks, purchasing materials, organizing infrastructure like pandals etc., and he did not conduct his work on a contract basis. He used to produce bills for material, labour etc., and did not have any slab rate for his work. In case his clients had their own ingredients, he used to accept the items and account its usage.
Those were times when items came from the farms of his clients. In fact the employees of Sakthi Sugars used to be given free sugar for their family weddings from the company and this used to readily used up by Krishna Vadhiyar. Lakshmi Krishna Vadhiyar was the energy behind her husband and his success was due to her positive role. The first son Moorthy used to work for the Central Bank while his second son Late Sivakumar was a businessman who managed his own Pushpak Agencies.
" Father began his career about 70 years ago and he used to organize things on an honourary basis for sometime. Subsequently it became his profession. At times he used to conduct 13 weddings on a single day. He never out sourced and all the items were made in the choultry kitchen itself. In a number of cases the purohit used to be someone else because every family had a family priest or purohit on a hereditary basis.
On such situations he used to take care of food, infrastructure and on a number of occasions he used to involve himself in match making too. The workaholic had not undergone formal education and he did not want us to take up his career. He felt that Satya ( truth ) and Dharma ( righteousness ) would not be possible in this line of activity for it would get too commercialized as time passed by. Father was a workaholic and used to get by 4 AM and never liked to have medicines. He used to take rest for 2 hours in the afternoon and used to sleep by 9 PM in the night. The elite of Coimbatore were among his clients.
He used to purchase provisions from Rangaswamy Chettiar, milk from the society,ghee from Ayyappa Ghee Stores, vegetables from Narayanan, hire vessels from Satchu Pillai ( Satchitanandam ), hire furniture from Ameer Furniture and purchase flowers from Razack of Bharat Flower Stall all his life. He never took an advance but used to pay in advance. Father used to say that even the bank would stop payment by 2 PM but he would pay all 24 hours and therefore he was more than a bank. He used to carry money around his waist. Father never wore slippers and used to be in a khadi dhoti and thundu ( top cloth ) at all times.
Clients from out of town used to ring up and tell him and the wedding would be taken care of. The relatives of former Chief Election Commissioner T.N.Seshan were among his clients. From the matching of horoscopes to nuptials, everything used to be taken care of by him. He used to take his clients to Kamal Beds in order to purchase mattresses for the to be wed couples, " smiled the septuagenarian son - Moorthy.
Krishna Vadhiyar used used to have a common meeting with both the sides and derive a programme for the wedding. He never demanded fees but took whatever was given as ' Sambavanai ' ( service charges ) from his clients. He served both rich and poor clients on an equitable basis. Krishna Vadhiyar was quite close to R. Rajendran of RBS Jewellery and he used to have complete faith in him. Both of them used to go to the Sabarimalai Ayyappan Temple for years together."
Krishna Vadhiyar was a nice person and I have been to Sabarimalai on 21 occasions with him. I used to visit him often with my family and all of us cherished his company", recalled the jeweller - R.Rajendran. Good memory and a frank approach were the life long assets of Krishna Vadhiyar.
" My father in law was open with his accounts and success came in because of my mother in law. Anyone could do the accounts with him for there was nothing to hide. There was a time when all the movie shoots of AVM Productions in this region were served by him. He used to organize food for the shooting crew while they shot in Kerala, Ooty or in the neighbourhood of Coimbatore. He used to recall his participation in the movies ' Anbe Vaa ' and ' Naanum Oru Pen '.
Former Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran had presented a shawl each for every person who was in the team of my father in law and he had donned a shawl to an old lady who came to be known as ' MGR Kizhavi ' thereafter. Our Kuladeivam is Thirumadhangun Bhagavathi in Kerala. People seeking good matrimony go to this temple. However his Ishta Deivam or favourite God was Ayyappan and he came to be known as ' Ayyappan Krishna Vadhiyar '. He was a simple man and was content with curd rice and mangoes. The 2 houses belonging to our family were purchased by him. He was very consistent and was blessed to be so.
Father in law performed the monthly Chathurthi Pooja in the residence of S.D.Singham for 25 years ( 300 months ) and at the time of completing the 300 th month without a break, he was presented with an 11 sovereign gold chain with a dollar for the same. The Vinayagar at the residence of S.D.Singham was known as Singha Vinayagar. Though my father in law earned well, it was my mother in law who ran the show. She knew the tricks of the trade and was adept in making the ' seer palagaram ' ( wedding snacks that were given to the relatives on either sides ) for the weddings. Father in law used to undertake temple tours in the Tamil months of Adi and Marghazi. He used to spend 10 days a year at Kasi by having a Ganga Snanam everyday day before offering his prayers to Lord Viswanatha, " shared the daughter in law Thiripurasundari Moorthy.
Krishna Vadhiyar was well connected and quite influential. He used to help the poor celebrate their family weddings on a number of occasions by getting the choultry ( wedding hall ) free of cost. His musical voice, curly hair, ability to read people and good personality stood by him at all times. He sported a ' kudumi ' or tuft at all times and spoke what was required. Krishna Vadhiyar considered education to be very important and his first son Moorthy made him happy by standing as the University First in M.A. Applied Economics. He had conducted poojas in the residences of a number of high officials including the Collector. People remember him as a satisfied and content person.
"Father used to say that extra wealth will cause sibling rivalry but punyam or good merit will make the family thrive. He used to tell us that his good deeds would work well for 3 generations after him. Discipline was his key. Businessman K.V.Menon and his wife Uma used to present sets of Venpattu dhoti and thundu on every Onam and Vishu to my father and seek his blessings year after year. Father used to wear those really grand garments on those days alone.
The dhotis used to be embellished with a grand jari. Industrialist K.N.Mathali was really fond of my father and he would make sure that all his important poojas in factories or establishments were done by him. He used to send his car in order to take my father to the Nilgiris for performing pooja on a number of occasions. My father was the official priest for all his inaugurations. In fact an astrologer had once stated that the industrialist had been the priest at the Thiruchendur Murugan Temple while my father had served as the Temple Elephant. There was no ' Vazha Vazha Kozha Kozha ' with my father and he was cut and right at all times", added Moorthy Krishna Vadhiyar.
Krishna Vadhiyar was one of those rare workaholics who had applied their intelligence and wisdom in their day to day lives.
Krishna Vadhiyar had to learn ' Purohitam ' ( procedures connected with worship ) under his brother in law for it was not possible to learn in a patashala ( school for Purohitam ) because 3 of his brothers were already enrolled for the same purpose. He had to study under his relative because it was not possible to get many people from the same family admitted into the same programme those days for the society believed in broad basing the oppourtunities available on an equitable basis.
Eventually Krishna Vadhiyar became a ' Purohit ' ( Priest ) and over a period of time he began conducting marriages on a turn key basis. His work consisted of hiring cooks, purchasing materials, organizing infrastructure like pandals etc., and he did not conduct his work on a contract basis. He used to produce bills for material, labour etc., and did not have any slab rate for his work. In case his clients had their own ingredients, he used to accept the items and account its usage.
Those were times when items came from the farms of his clients. In fact the employees of Sakthi Sugars used to be given free sugar for their family weddings from the company and this used to readily used up by Krishna Vadhiyar. Lakshmi Krishna Vadhiyar was the energy behind her husband and his success was due to her positive role. The first son Moorthy used to work for the Central Bank while his second son Late Sivakumar was a businessman who managed his own Pushpak Agencies.
" Father began his career about 70 years ago and he used to organize things on an honourary basis for sometime. Subsequently it became his profession. At times he used to conduct 13 weddings on a single day. He never out sourced and all the items were made in the choultry kitchen itself. In a number of cases the purohit used to be someone else because every family had a family priest or purohit on a hereditary basis.
On such situations he used to take care of food, infrastructure and on a number of occasions he used to involve himself in match making too. The workaholic had not undergone formal education and he did not want us to take up his career. He felt that Satya ( truth ) and Dharma ( righteousness ) would not be possible in this line of activity for it would get too commercialized as time passed by. Father was a workaholic and used to get by 4 AM and never liked to have medicines. He used to take rest for 2 hours in the afternoon and used to sleep by 9 PM in the night. The elite of Coimbatore were among his clients.
He used to purchase provisions from Rangaswamy Chettiar, milk from the society,ghee from Ayyappa Ghee Stores, vegetables from Narayanan, hire vessels from Satchu Pillai ( Satchitanandam ), hire furniture from Ameer Furniture and purchase flowers from Razack of Bharat Flower Stall all his life. He never took an advance but used to pay in advance. Father used to say that even the bank would stop payment by 2 PM but he would pay all 24 hours and therefore he was more than a bank. He used to carry money around his waist. Father never wore slippers and used to be in a khadi dhoti and thundu ( top cloth ) at all times.
Clients from out of town used to ring up and tell him and the wedding would be taken care of. The relatives of former Chief Election Commissioner T.N.Seshan were among his clients. From the matching of horoscopes to nuptials, everything used to be taken care of by him. He used to take his clients to Kamal Beds in order to purchase mattresses for the to be wed couples, " smiled the septuagenarian son - Moorthy.
Krishna Vadhiyar used used to have a common meeting with both the sides and derive a programme for the wedding. He never demanded fees but took whatever was given as ' Sambavanai ' ( service charges ) from his clients. He served both rich and poor clients on an equitable basis. Krishna Vadhiyar was quite close to R. Rajendran of RBS Jewellery and he used to have complete faith in him. Both of them used to go to the Sabarimalai Ayyappan Temple for years together."
Krishna Vadhiyar was a nice person and I have been to Sabarimalai on 21 occasions with him. I used to visit him often with my family and all of us cherished his company", recalled the jeweller - R.Rajendran. Good memory and a frank approach were the life long assets of Krishna Vadhiyar.
" My father in law was open with his accounts and success came in because of my mother in law. Anyone could do the accounts with him for there was nothing to hide. There was a time when all the movie shoots of AVM Productions in this region were served by him. He used to organize food for the shooting crew while they shot in Kerala, Ooty or in the neighbourhood of Coimbatore. He used to recall his participation in the movies ' Anbe Vaa ' and ' Naanum Oru Pen '.
Former Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran had presented a shawl each for every person who was in the team of my father in law and he had donned a shawl to an old lady who came to be known as ' MGR Kizhavi ' thereafter. Our Kuladeivam is Thirumadhangun Bhagavathi in Kerala. People seeking good matrimony go to this temple. However his Ishta Deivam or favourite God was Ayyappan and he came to be known as ' Ayyappan Krishna Vadhiyar '. He was a simple man and was content with curd rice and mangoes. The 2 houses belonging to our family were purchased by him. He was very consistent and was blessed to be so.
Father in law performed the monthly Chathurthi Pooja in the residence of S.D.Singham for 25 years ( 300 months ) and at the time of completing the 300 th month without a break, he was presented with an 11 sovereign gold chain with a dollar for the same. The Vinayagar at the residence of S.D.Singham was known as Singha Vinayagar. Though my father in law earned well, it was my mother in law who ran the show. She knew the tricks of the trade and was adept in making the ' seer palagaram ' ( wedding snacks that were given to the relatives on either sides ) for the weddings. Father in law used to undertake temple tours in the Tamil months of Adi and Marghazi. He used to spend 10 days a year at Kasi by having a Ganga Snanam everyday day before offering his prayers to Lord Viswanatha, " shared the daughter in law Thiripurasundari Moorthy.
Krishna Vadhiyar was well connected and quite influential. He used to help the poor celebrate their family weddings on a number of occasions by getting the choultry ( wedding hall ) free of cost. His musical voice, curly hair, ability to read people and good personality stood by him at all times. He sported a ' kudumi ' or tuft at all times and spoke what was required. Krishna Vadhiyar considered education to be very important and his first son Moorthy made him happy by standing as the University First in M.A. Applied Economics. He had conducted poojas in the residences of a number of high officials including the Collector. People remember him as a satisfied and content person.
"Father used to say that extra wealth will cause sibling rivalry but punyam or good merit will make the family thrive. He used to tell us that his good deeds would work well for 3 generations after him. Discipline was his key. Businessman K.V.Menon and his wife Uma used to present sets of Venpattu dhoti and thundu on every Onam and Vishu to my father and seek his blessings year after year. Father used to wear those really grand garments on those days alone.
The dhotis used to be embellished with a grand jari. Industrialist K.N.Mathali was really fond of my father and he would make sure that all his important poojas in factories or establishments were done by him. He used to send his car in order to take my father to the Nilgiris for performing pooja on a number of occasions. My father was the official priest for all his inaugurations. In fact an astrologer had once stated that the industrialist had been the priest at the Thiruchendur Murugan Temple while my father had served as the Temple Elephant. There was no ' Vazha Vazha Kozha Kozha ' with my father and he was cut and right at all times", added Moorthy Krishna Vadhiyar.
Krishna Vadhiyar was one of those rare workaholics who had applied their intelligence and wisdom in their day to day lives.