Tulu speaking Kodman Sanjeeva Shetty ( K.S.Shetty ) was a hard working Coimbatorean. He belonged to the ' Bunt ' community who hail from South Canara. K.S.Shetty ( 1917 - 2001 ) came to work at Radiohouse in Coimbatore after his S.S.L.C. The business had been promoted by Krishna Shetty.
Tulu speaking Kodman Sanjeeva Shetty ( K.S.Shetty ) was a hard working Coimbatorean. He belonged to the ' Bunt ' community who hail from South Canara. K.S.Shetty ( 1917 - 2001 ) came to work at Radiohouse in Coimbatore after his S.S.L.C.
The business had been promoted by Krishna Shetty. The good technician had done his radio engineering course at Hope College. Industrial Scientist G.D.Naidu had been the energy behind the institution. K.S.Shetty was an excellent service person and his skill was reason enough to set up shop under the name ' K.S.Shetty & Co ' on the day of independence ( 15/8/1947 ) at 3.30 PM on Dr.Nanjappa Road. Government Pleader Shanmughasundara Gounder and Ramaswamy Iyer ( Director - Stanes Motors ) were the supporters and well wishers of the venture from day one.
The radio had been an important device that had captured the imagination of the people those days. Industrialist S.R.P.Ponnuswamy Chettiar had in fact wanted to fix public radios in the city during his term as the Municipal Chairman. In fact , the movie Andha Naal ( 1954 ) starring Sivaji Ganesan and Pandari Bai ( Produced by AVM and Directed by S.Balachander ) was based on the story of a radio engineer cum communications researcher. K.S.Shetty & Co started of under a tiled roof structure. K.S.Shetty and his wife Saraswathi had lived in the same campus during the formative years. Within 2 years from the time of establishment the hard working K.S.Shetty was made a partner of the Stanes Motors - Radio Section and this arrangement continued until the year 1972.
Balakrishna Shetty recalled his father, " He was an amazing technician and servicing movie projectors was his forte. A number of theatre owners used to send their vehicles in order to pick him up for repairing the projectors. Breakdowns and emergencies saw him travel all of a sudden. His work was top class and he travelled up to Kasarkode , Mangalore and Calicut. He used to set the projectors right by working through the night. K.S.Shetty & Co was a radio store and it dealt with brands like Marconi, Philips, Bush, Murphy and Pye. The firm was the authorized dealer for HMV ( records & players ).
Garrard ( record changer ) of England was also sold in the shop. A number of mill owners and big farmers were among the clientele from the very start ."
K.S.Shetty ran a one man show for a few decades. He was a hard working man who moved around on a cycle before getting his Austin car. The firm was approved by the P.W.D ( Public Works Department ) and therefore K.S.Shetty use to hire mike sets and speakers for public meetings. Those were the times when leaders like Pandit Nehru and K.Kamaraj had addressed the people through the Public Address System belonging to K.S.Shetty & Co. G.K.Devarajulu, G.N.Sam, N.Mahalingam, G.R.Govindarajulu, P.A.Raju Chettiar, S.R.P.Ponnuswamy Chettiar and T.S.Avinashilingam Chettiar were among the five star clients of K.S.Shetty. The firm did a roaring business by selling huge numbers of Radiograms. The family began to reside at Tatabad from the year 1961 and Balakrishna Shetty joined work even as a student in the year 1969. He has done his engineering from the prestigious Coimbatore Institute of Technology.
G.K.Govindaswamy ( Mani ) of Lakshmi Mills was quite close to K.S.Shetty. Another regular visitor to the store was V.N.Ramachandran of Premier Mills. K.S.Shetty was a Member of the Minority Commission during the governance of Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi. The Karnataka Association was his home turf for he served as a President for a long time. He was known ' Marconi ' and he was the President of the All India Radio Dealers Association.
Amitha Shetty gave her inputs, " A number senior people from Karnataka used to be our guests. Quite a few senior politicians have come to our house those days and they include Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, Ministers - Rajashekhara Murthy, Sarojini Mahishi and Jeevaraj Alva. His Highness Jayachamraja Wodeyar ( Maharaja of Mysore ) and Veerendra Hegde of Dharmasthala have been our esteemed guests. Our founder was a hard working person and he worked all his life. Both of them - K.S.Shetty and Saraswathi Shetty were a powerful couple in every sense. He was quite a helpful person and ours was an ' open house ' and was literally brimming with guests 24/7. The father of K.S.Shetty , Seshanna Shetty was a really pious person and his good words were most sought after in the village."
K.S.Shetty used to make and sell radios under the name ' Sarind '. Incidentally 'Sarind ' was also his residence at No.9, 9th Street, Tatabad. " We had one P. Karunakaran, our man Friday who used to look after our needs for more than 50 years. He was a true Karmayogi. We had a guest for every meal and each of the meals were elaborate.
Saraswathi and K.S.Shetty were a ' Made for each other ' couple. All the friends and relatives were treated like family. Our elders had helped fix and conduct a number of weddings. A number of people got jobs due to their munificence. People who had experienced our hospitality still remember them. Guests used to stream in unannounced and in big numbers. Once we had guests till 12.30 and just after the dinner, I had to be rushed to the hospital for delivery. Well, those were memorable times and we cherish those golden moments, " smiled Amitha Shetty.
" In spite of his heavy schedule my father used to make sure that all the Mangalore people were well looked after during their visits. He had a helping tendency and was extremely hospitable. The household had guests all the time and I remember picking up and dropping them on several occasions. A number of estate managers were related to father and he used to take care of their requirements when they visited the town. The shop used to open by 9.30 AM and function till night. We have always had a lunch break from the beginning. Sundays were for leisure, " recalled the ever smiling Balakrishna Shetty.
The powerful Polali Raja Rajeswari is the family deity of the family and Seshanna Shetty , the father of K.S.Shetty was a trustee of this historic temple for many years. Most of the temples in that area seems to have had clansmen from the ' Bunt ' community as the trustees.
Balakrishna Shetty is happily married to Amitha Shetty and the couple are blessed with Sharanjith and Pranav. The firm never advertised its way to glory in the initial stages. They have been dealers for Ahuja for a long time now. Even today all the showrooms of Kalyan Jewellers, Ramraj Cotton, Sri Krishna Sweets, Thulasi Pharmacy etc., are done by K.S.Shetty & Co. The P.A system and the connected wiring at the Palani Murugan Temple has been done by K.S.Shetty & Co and thanks to the 10 kilometer speaker wiring work its possible to listen to the musical voices of the ' odhuvars ' from all parts of the temple town. People get to know about the day to events at this temple through these speakers.
" Work was worship for my father. He was highly respected in the community. K.S.Shetty was therefore known globally to all his clans people. Anyone coming to Coimbatore will drop in to have dinner. The family has been performing the ' Sathyanarayan Pooja ' every month for the past 60 years. It happens on Pournami and will take place for two and a half hours.
All the places of worship including churches and mosques have our sound systems. Several factories in this region have us supplying them the systems which provide back ground music to the workers. The ambulance sirens and the announcing equipment for police vans have always been from us. The P.A system fixed in all the political campaign vans prepared by Koyas & Co are from our firm. Well, the side effects speakers at theatres like KG in Coimbatore and Durai's in Pollachi are from K.S.Shetty & Co, " recalled Balakrishna Shetty.
Those were times when women used to feel relaxed by listening to music, speeches, news, health tips, cookery tips, plays and movies with the aid of a radio or transistor. The radio was a great luxury and in fact the role of Sivaji in the iconic movie ' Andha Naal ' revolves around the radio. It was a great redeemer for people.
" People used to listen to Binaca Geetmala and the main station for the Tamil loving people was from Ceylon. Normandy Radio had also been famous. General Radio & Appliances ( GRA ) was also there. The industrialist L.G.Varadaraj who was known for ethical corporate governance was well known to my father. Rajammal Devadas of Avinashilingam used to call me for late evening meetings.
Chandrakanthi Govindarajulu will always be remembered for her early morning calls. It was cash business those days. We used to sell one washing machine called ' Everest ' in the year 1970 and it was from Calcutta. K.S.Shetty & Co was the first to sell washing machines in Coimbatore. The firm used to deal in UMS products also. I remember the Kuwait Station offering excellent English Pop Music and it was quite popular among college students. K.S.Shetty & Co has been in the same activity from the same place for more than 71 years now. I tell people that my business is ' Sound ', " beamed Balakrishna Shetty while sharing snippets about K.S.Shetty & Co.
The 71 year old cash box presented by the Director of Stanes, Ramaswamy Iyer at the time of the inauguration of K. S. Shetty & Co is well preserved. It happened to be his turban container originally.
The " Sound Business " from Coimbatore is sure to add to the commerce and culture of the city.