Adka Anantha Krishna RAO was ( 1922 - 2004 ) was a Tulu speaking Shivali Brahmin and he was born in a very affluent Zamindari family in Chokkadi near Udupi in Dakshina Kannada District ( Karnataka ).
Adka Anantha Krishna RAO was ( 1922 - 2004 ) was a Tulu speaking Shivali Brahmin and he was born in a very affluent Zamindari family in Chokkadi near Udupi in Dakshina Kannada District ( Karnataka ). He was born to Adka Ramachandriah and Yamuna in a rustic village atmosphere. Adka Anantha Krishna RAO ( AAK ) had lost his father when he was just ten years of age, however he managed to do his Intermediate course before moving over to Machilipatnam. The huge land ownings of the family had dwindled due to a number of decisions taken by the Government. He worked in a pharmacy at Machilipatnam in Krishna District for sometime. The lands had been left with his elder brother. Unfortunately RAO underwent a lot of misery while witnessing his sister losing nine out of her eleven children to small pox. Therefore he decided to take a break and moved over to Coimbatore. His brother in law Devaraj Bhat of Ideal Café ran his business from Diwan Bahadur Road those days and this connection motivated him to set up shop in the city. Rao began IDEAL STORES on the 18th of August 1948 in the car shed which was part of Ideal Café.
The retailer Rao was from a village and therefore he began to acquire urban experience in Coimbatore. He borrowed Rs.600 from his other sister at Kattoor for his venture but unfortunately he lost the money on the very same day. Therefore he had to borrow the same amount once again from the same generous sister. Thus the total borrowing became Rs.1200 but the seed capital that was deployed was just Rs.600. The money was returned with interest in due course . Rao never showed his ' shop ' to his Sunanda for a long time because he was apprehensive about her reaction. He considered his tiny venture to be insignificant. Eventually his sister took Sunanda Rao to see Ideal Stores and she was shocked. She told him that it was a tiny ' kozhi koodu ' ( chicken coop ).
Rao began by selling ice creams, dry fruits, carpets, flasks, FMCG ( fast moving consumer goods ) items and crockery. The godown was located at his residence and he was the salesperson cum cashier. Rao's son Sreesh was happy to share some snippets about his father, " My father used to have only one piece belonging to each type at the store. He used to run home and get more numbers for customers who bought more number of pieces. He was hard working and enterprising. Eventually he expanded his business and used to say that he was moving to a bigger ' kozhi koodu ' whenever he moved to a larger shop. He had moved to a number of locations on Diwan Bahadur Road. He had the store in the same location as Tanishq. In fact one Gomatha Combines moved over much later to the same building. The shop used to function in the same spot which houses the shop Brocade for some time. Later father purchased a property in Bhashyakarulu Road in R.S.Puram and our business moved to the new premises. Many friends dissuaded my father from moving over to a non commercial road. However, my father had stated that ' ants will search & reach sugar wherever it is '. He was confident because of his good quality customer service".
Rao and Sunanda were blessed with four daughters and one son - Kusuma, Dr.Vanitha, Dr.Prasanna, Sumangala ( Auditor ) and Sreesh who manages Ideal Stores these days. In spite of hailing from a rustic background Rao was liberal and therefore he got his daughters educated well. Rao was a retail pioneer in many ways. He was the first to sell sofa cum beds, flasks, pressure cookers and VIP luggage in this part of the country. His frequent travels brought him business and he became a bigger entrepreneur over the years. He used to travel to cities like Mumbai for his purchases. Rao had very good contacts and these people become his inspiration. He used to personally know T.T.Krishnamachari ( TTK Group ), H.D.Vasudeva of Hawkins Cookers, Mathare of Sumeet and Padamsee of Eagle. Rao became quite popular in Coimbatore in about ten years and the elite of the town were among his regular customers. Savithri Sam, ladies belonging to the Lakshmi family, Parvathi Mallikarjun , ladies from the PSG and Ramakrishna families were among them.
" Father was a keen traveler and he had visited Pragati Maidan in Delhi long ago. His hobby was travelling and he used to look out for new things all the time. He was active with the shop all the time. The clients would want to pay the money directly to him and then take delivery of the items. He was a keen door to door salesperson who used to give demos at the residents of his clients. Mother used to help out in cash counter and my sister Kusuma used to help with accounts. Involvement from the family helped him to move about. Our family followed the Dwaita philosophy and our Kula Devatha was Tirumala Srinivasa. The village deity was Mahalingeshwara. Father used to do Saligrama pooja at home. He used to visit the Raghavendra Mutt in Sullivan Street and the Rathina Vinayagar Temple in R.S.Puram regularly, " smiled Sreesh while showing some of old papers connected to the growth of Ideal Stores.
Rao focused on customer care and he maintained a good rapport with his clients. He knew Tulu, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil and English. He became a sub agent of Burmah Shell in the year 1963. He worked really hard for 10 years in order to make people understand that cookers and gas stoves were safe for homes. His work made the products acceptable and eventually the agent of Burmah Shell wanted to stop him from continuing. However Indian Oil took over Burmah Shell and Rao approached them for a dealership. It took him six months to establish his relationship with the business in order to get the dealership. His chance discovery of a copy of ' Shell News ' in an old file established his connect with the cylinder business. It contained a picture of him and this picture changed his life. Getting an LPG dealership in the open category was impossible those days. It was the year 1978 and Rao was badly in need of resources to get two of his daughters married. Help came from I.K.Iype of Indian Oil. He granted 435 connections at a time when there was a ban on granting new connections. This was done after getting an approval from the headquarters at a time when Socialism and Controls over resources were ruling the roost. The sale of new stoves helped Rao to conduct the weddings of both his daughters at peace.
" My father was active till the year 2001. He had visited a number of countries. USA, Europe, Japan, Bali in Indonesia and Singapore had been frequented by him. He used to get dropped in a mall in the USA and get picked up only after the sun had come down for the day. Borrowings were an anathema and he paid his suppliers on time. This helped him to get good deals. Yuvan Mascrenhas of the all ladies branch of Syndicate Branch used to force him to take over drafts once in a while. The bank would acknowledge his money and count the notes much later during the day! Mitaso, Hitkari Crockery, Decora Carpets, Surco Tournament boards for carrom, Tommy Airguns, Killicks Nixon, Parrys sweets etc., were the many brands dealt by him. He marketed ready made garments too. Vice Chancellor Subbian and Sundarsingham were his close friends. He was given the ' Grand Salesmanship Award ' on the Vijayadasami ( 4/10/1965 ) of 1965. His youngers sister's husband Ballal used to be with him and he founded Nuthan Stores later. Father used to trust all his employees. He was quite close to his brother in law Devaraj Bhat and every day both of them used to walk in the opposite direction to meet up in a restaurant belonging to the former ( current Kannan Jubilee Coffee Company spot on DB Road ). He simply loved being a retailer all his life, " added Sreesh while showing the silver plate that carried the details of the award received by his father. Shama Sreesh helps out at the store. The avid reader Sharan Sreesh is now at Enfad , a design school in Paris.
Rao had become a full Coimbatorean but his love for Mangalorean food stayed with him all his life. He loved Moode ( steamed rice cake wrapped in a kind of leaf which was not available locally ). His wife Sunanda used to source it from Mangalore in order to make Moode for her husband. Incidentally devotees visiting Anegudde offer Moode to the presiding deity, Lord Ganesha. Pathroda was his other favourite dish. Shreeya Sreesh, the grand daughter of Rao is an entrepreneur. She has done her education from the Culinary Institute of America in New York and her up market restaurant, The French Door is a hit with the Coimbatoreans. The plum cake made at The French Door is a delicacy.
Enterprises like Ideal Stores are very much part of our trading history. Shop keepers like A.A.Krishna Rao added to the quality of retail trade in Coimbatore.