The Magic of Dabbawala

I recently attended a programme titled “The magic of the dabbawala” (thanks to my friend Deepak Menon) organized by National HRD Network (Chennai Chapter) at Hotel Savera, on 27th November 2009. The lecture was given by Mr. Manish Tripathi who is the Chairman of the Dabbawala Foundation. When he entered the meeting hall with his ‘dabba’ and said “Good Evening Chennai” he sets the tone for the programme which was full of wits and humour. Though the English came with chaste Marathi dialect we can enjoy the programme as he kept on pulling the legs of the MBA graduates when he compared the dabawala with that of an ordinary organization. The BBC has produced a documentary on dabbawalas, and Prince Charles, during his visit to India, visited them and even invited them for his marriage. Owing to the tremendous publicity, some of the dabbawalas were invited to give guest lectures in top business schools of India, which is very unusual. Most remarkably in the eyes of many Westerners, the success of the dabbawala trade has involved no advanced technology. Quiet amazing isn’t it? Want to know how the dabbawala system works please read on…

The Statistics of dabbawalas

· History : Started in 1880
· Average Literacy Rate of employees : 8th Grade Schooling
· Average Area Coverage : 60 Km per Tiffin Box
· Employee Strength : 5000
· No. of Dabbas / Tiffins Boxes : 2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes per day
· No. of transactions : 10 Million Transactions per month
· Time taken for delivery : 3 hours
· Cost of Service : Rs. 250/- to Rs. 350/- per month

The History

This service was originated in 1880. The origin of the Dabbawalas lunch delivery service dates back to the 1890s during the British raj. At that time, people from various communities migrated to Mumbai for work. As there were no canteens or fast food centers then, if working people did not bring their lunch from home, they had to go hungry and invariably, lunch would not be ready when they left home for work. Besides, different communities had different tastes and preferences which could only be satisfied by a home-cooked meal.

Recognizing the need, in 1890, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche, started a lunch delivery service with about 100 men. For his enterprise, Mahadeo recruited youth from the villages neighboring Mumbai, who were involved in agricultural work. They were willing to come as the income they got from agriculture was not enough to support their large families, and they had no education or skills to get work in the city. In 1930, he informally attempted to unionize the dabbawallas. Later a charitable trust was registered in 1956 under the name of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust. The commercial arm of this trust was registered in 1968 as Mumbai Tiffin Box Supplier's Association. The present President of the association is Sopan Laxman Mare. Nowadays, the service often includes cooking of foods in addition to the delivery.

Their mission is to serve their customers -- who are mainly office goers -- by delivering their lunch boxes at their doorstep on time. They have 5,000 people on their payroll to ensure the prompt delivery of lunchboxes within Mumbai; these 'dabbawalas' travel by local trains and use bicycles or walk to reach every nook and corner of Mumbai. The lunch boxes are delivered exactly at 12.30 pm. Later, the empty boxes are collected and taken back to the homes, catering services or hotels before 5 pm. In fact, the next time you forget to strap on your watch before leaving for office, don't be surprised to find it in the lunchbox container brought by the dabbawala from your home! On an average, every tiffin box changes hands four times and travels 60-70 kilometres in its journey to reach its eventual destination. Each box is differentiated and sorted along the route on the basis of markings on the lid, which give an indication of the source as well as the destination address.

Although the service remains essentially low-tech, with the barefoot delivery men as the prime movers, the dabbawalas have started to embrace technology, and now allow booking for delivery through SMS. An on-line poll on the web site ensures that customer feedback is given pride of place. The success of the system depends on teamwork and time management. Such is the dedication and commitment of the barely literate and barefoot delivery men (there are only a few delivery women) who form links in the extensive delivery chain, that there is no system of documentation at all.

A simple colour coding system doubles as an ID system for the destination and recipient. There are no multiple elaborate layers of management either — just three layers. Each dabbawala is also required to contribute a minimum capital in kind, in the form of two bicycles, a wooden crate for the tiffins, white cotton kurta-pyjamas, and the white trademark Gandhi cap (topi). The return on capital is ensured by monthly division of the earnings of each unit.

The service is uninterrupted even on the days of severe weather such as Mumbai's characteristic monsoons. The local dabbawalas at the receiving and the sending ends are known to the customers personally, so that there is no question of lack of trust. Also, they are well accustomed to the local areas they cater to, which allows them to access any destination with ease. Occasionally, people communicate between home and work by putting messages inside the boxes. However, this was more common before the accessibility of instant telecommunications.
The brand ambassador of “Dabbawalas” none other than Prince Charles!

Six Sigma Rating

The efficiency of the process has earned the dabbawalas a six-sigma rating from Forbes magazine. The Six Sigma quality certification was established by the International Quality Federation in 1986, to judge the quality standards of an organisation. According to an article published in Forbes magazine in 1998, “one mistake for every eight million” deliveries constitute Six Sigma quality standards. The Six-sigma rating means that they have a 99.99 % efficiency in delivering the lunch-boxes to the right people. That put them on the list of Six Sigma rated companies, along with multinationals like Motorola and GE. Achieving this rating was no mean feat, considering that the Dabbawalas did not use any technology or paperwork, and that most of them were illiterate or semiliterate. Apart from Forbes, the Dabbawalas have aroused the interest of many other international organizations, media and academia.

The logistics of how the dabba is delivered

A collecting dabbawala, usually on bicycle, collects dabbas from homes or from the dabba makers. The dabbas have some sort of distinguishing mark on them, such as a color or symbol. The dabbawala then takes them to a designated sorting place, where he and other collecting dabbawalas sort (and sometimes bundle) the lunch boxes into groups. The grouped boxes are put in the coaches of trains, with markings to identify the destination of the box (usually there is a designated car for the boxes). The markings include the rail station to unload the boxes and the building address where the box has to be delivered. At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala, who delivers them. The empty boxes, after lunch, are again collected and sent back to the respective houses.

i) The first dabbawala picks up the tiffin from home and takes it to the nearest railway station.
ii) The second dabbawalla sorts out the dabbas at the railway station according to destination and puts them in the luggage carriage.

iii) The third one travels with the dabbas to the railway stations nearest to the destinations.
iv) The fourth one picks up dabbas from the railway station and drops them of at the offices. The process is reversed in the evenings.

Decoding the dabba

The dabbawalas adopt a colour coding system to ensure the dabbas are picked and delivered at the correct destinations. The reverse of dabba is normally painted with codes. See the following picture to know how the coding system is followed.

Dabbawala Disciplines

"Error is horror," is the operational motto. In the event of a dabbawala meeting with an accident en-route, alternative arrangements are made to deliver the lunch boxes. For example, in a group of 30 dabbawalas catering to an area, five people act as redundant members; it is these members who take on the responsibility of delivering the dabbas in case of any untoward happenings.

The dabbawalas must be extremely disciplined. Consuming alcohol while on duty attracts a fine of Rs 1,000. Unwarranted absenteeism is not tolerated and is treated with a similar fine.

Every dabbawalla gets a weekly off, usually on Sunday.

The “Gandhi cap” serves as a potent symbol of identification in the crowded railway stations. Not wearing the cap attracts a fine of Rs 25. In fact, Richard Branson, the maverick businessman who is never shy to promote himself and the Virgin brand, donned a Gandhi topi and dhoti (the dabbawalas' signature dress code), during the launch of Virgin's inaugural flights to Mumbai.

There are no specific selection criteria like age, sex or religion; however, women dabbawals are very few in number. The antecedents of the candidates are thoroughly verified and a new employee is taken into the fold for a six-month probation. After that period, the employment is regularised with a salary of Rs 5,000 a month.

Dabbawala and the Management perspective :

The dabbawalas are a prime example of management guru Michael Porter's Five Forces Theory at work.

Porter's theories, which are the basis for classical management principles, define the scope and nature of competition a company faces to attain leadership. Surprisingly, the dabbawalas are following these very principles in spite of their ignorance of the same.

i. Threat of new entrants:

According to Porter, the threat of new entrants is dangerous to any organisation as it can take away the market share the organisation enjoys. Started in 1880, the experience curve of the 125-year-old dabbawala service serves as a huge entry barrier for potential competitors. Besides, it would be difficult to replicate this supply chain network that uses Mumbai's jam-packed local trains as its backbone.

ii. Current competition:

Porter's five forces theory states that strategy is determined by a unique combination of activities that deliver a different value proposition than competitors or the same value proposition in a better way. The dabbawalas do face competition from fast food joints as well as office canteens. However, since neither of these serve home food, the dabbawalas' core offering remains unchallenged. They have also tied up with many catering services and hotels to cater to the vast number of office goers.

iii. Bargaining power of buyers:

The delivery rates of the dabbawalas are so nominal (about Rs 250 – Rs. 300 per month) that one simply wouldn't bargain any further. Also, their current monopoly negates any scope of bargaining on the part of their customers. Thus, we encounter a perfect win-win combination for the customers as well as the dabbawalas.

iv. Bargaining power of sellers:

The dabbawalas use minimum infrastructure and practically no technology, hence they are not dependent on suppliers. Since they are a service-oriented organisation, they are not dependent on sellers to buy their product. Hence, sellers do not assume any prominence as would be the case in a product-oriented company. The strategy map framework in Porter's theory allows companies to identify and link together the critical internal processes and human, information and organisation capital that deliver the value proposition differently or better. Human capital is the greatest driving force in the dabbawala community; as a result, they are not dependent on suppliers or technology, thus negating the seller's power in the equation.

v. Threat of a new substitute product or service:

As substitutes to home cooked food are not seen as a viable alternative in the Indian scenario, the threat to the dabbawala service is not an issue at least in the foreseeable future. This gives them a leeway to probably expand their already existing network into newer cities as demand increases in these places as well.

Learnings from Dabbawalas – What they say :

"As management students, there was a lot that we learnt from this lecture," says Karthik A J, a first year management student at NITIE. "The belief that technology is indispensable to solve complex problems was shattered. FMCGs and other industries can learn a lot from the simple supply chain logistics and efficient reverse logistics (transfer of empty lunch boxes to the source location)," he adds.

The concept of multi-level coding (colour coding on the lunch boxes for identification) and reverse logistics can be implemented in industries as diverse as soft drinks (where logistics becomes an important aspect, transporting the filled bottles to retailers and collecting empty bottles back to the plants), pharmaceuticals and other FMCG areas. For example, can the bar coding mechanism (a computerised format) which is prevalent and expensive, be simplified with just colour/ number coding? In small and medium scale organisations where bar coding systems would require a lot of resources, these systems can prove to be very efficient and cost effective. Moreover, the dependence on technology could be drastically reduced.

The learnings for a working executive are enormous too. Managers and executives alike spend a lot of their valuable time learning various concepts in people and time management. Newer mechanisms like Customer Relationship Management, etc, have been developed to assist executives in the same. But, in the midst of implementing technology and IT, basic principles in people management, sustainable relationship development and customer satisfaction have lost their meaning. Our friendly dabbawallas are a perfect example of an important principle of both business and management -- the thirst to serve customers in a simple yet effective fashion without falling into the technology trap. I think this is an aspect which needs to be re-learnt and implemented in any organisation today.

The most enduring lesson that we learnt was to put the customer ahead of everything else. It is said that when Prince Charles expressed a desire to meet them during his visit in 2003, the dabbawallas requested him to schedule the meeting such that it did not interfere with their mid-day delivery timings!!!.


Reference

Mumbai dabbawallas by Kiran Raveendran, ICFAI
What you can learn from a dabbawalla – Harsha Venkatesh
Dabbawala - Wikipedia,
Official website of Dabbawalas mydabbawalla.com

Sri Ranganji

I recently attended a discourse on “Samartha Ramadas” by Sri. Ranganji at West Mambalam. Sri Pandurangan, fondly called Sri Rangan Anna, born in 1977, is the second son of Sri Krishna Premi Swamigal. When Sri Sri Anna completed his Sevai to Sri Pandurangan in Pandaripur on Sivaratri, he came to know of Sri Bhagavan's sankalpam about his birth and hence he named him as Pandurangan. Sri Ranganji's stunning accomplishments include composition of 7000 verses in Sanskrit at the age of 13, translation of Sankara Bhashyam of Bramhasutra at the age of 18 and publication of 6 books on philosophy before the age of 25. He has committed to memory all the eight major Upanishads and most of the slokas of Ramayana at the age of 16. He is a maser story teller of Ramayanam. Please read on to know more about Sri Ranganji.

Dr. R.Rangan is a unique man of wisdom and simplicity. He was awarded Yoga-vidya-varidhi (a doctoral degree in Yoga from SVYASA, Bangalore). He also has a master’s degree of management from SIMS, Pune. He is a master of Vedas, Vedic Sanskrit, Upanishads and epics. His main inspiration is Sri Rama, whom he calls as his friend, philosopher and guide. His other great inspirations include his father, Sri Sri Krishnapremi swamigal, Sri Ranganatha Aiyer (also called as Sri Ramayana mama), Sri Shankara, Sri Ramanuja, Sri Madhva, Sri Ramananda, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo, Dr. H.R. Nagendra, Sri Satyanaranayana shastri and last but not the least Sri Samartha Ramdas. He studied intensely all these philosophers.

He learnt Advaita-Vedanta in a traditional way from Sri Shivaramakrishna Shastri. Then he learnt the texts of Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita schools by himself out of interest. He learnt Vyakarana and Sahitya from Sri Tirumalachari, Srirangam. He learnt Bhakti-shastras like Bhagavatam from Sri Sri Krishnapremi swamigal, Sri Balakrishnashastri and Sri Hariji, Srirangam. Ramayana is his very nature. He is a great poet who composed seven thousand verses in samskrit even at the age of thirteen. He also composed beautiful poems in Tamil and English. He has authored many books on the Vedas and other scriptures giving their meaning and practicality for the present age. He translated Shankara bhashya of Bramhasutras in Tamil at the age of eighteen. He wrote a commentary of Bhagavad Gita synthesizing the commentaries of Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva at the age of twenty eight. He did translation for various Vedic Mantras.


He has written a commentary of Brahmasutra in Samskrit. Uniqueness of this commentary is that it is based on Rig-Veda and Ramayana, while other commentaries are based mainly on Upanishads. He wrote thousands of research articles on Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, Vedanta and Yoga before the age of twenty seven. He has published papers related to traditional Vedic education in International journal of Yoga. His articles were published by few spiritual and cultural magazines like Yoga-sudha, Bhagavata-Dharmam, Amman-Darshanam, Tattvaloka, Svadeshi and so on. He established a big study circle of Ramayana (Rama-kudumbam), while he was an under graduate. His concentration and memory are so powerful that he could memorize all the eight major Upanishads and most of the slokas of Ramayana at the age of sixteen.
He is an expert in narrating Ramayana in a beautiful way which enthralls thousands of people. Therefore Tirukkovilur Jiyar Swamigal awarded him a title “Rama-kathamrita-varshi”. Dr. R.Rangan’s admirers include scientists, sociologists, psychologists, spiritualists and philanthropists. He could discover various concepts by observing the nature by the deep meditation. He is the one who developed Dharma model through which the concept of Dharma can be explored, understood and practiced in a systematic way. He is a consultant in various movements like SVYASA, Bangalore, Shruti Ram charitable and educational trust, Hosur, Brahmasabha, Chennai and Akhila-Bharata-Sadhusamajam, New Delhi. He is the founder president of Webolim (Web of Life Makers) which spreads the values of Vedas and usage of Vedic values in every day life. He conducts Vedic workshops in various places in India and abroad. He delivers discourses on Vedas, Vedanta and epics in many places and presented papers in various international Vedic conferences.

Kovur Sundareswarar Temple

I happened to visit recently a 1300 year old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva at Kovur near Porur (Chennai). The temple is famous due to the visit of Saint Tyagaraja’s who had composed five songs on the temple known as “Kovur Pancharatnam”. Also the Vilva tree in this shrine is having 9/16/27 leaves in every stem instead of the usual 3 leaves. Also this temple is one of the Nava Graha Temple in Chennai meant for parikara sthalam of Bhudan. This is also the place associated with of Saint Poet Sekhizhar who had written Periyapuranam. Also this temple was sung by Thirunavukkarasar (Appar). Sounds interesting please read on to know more about Kovur.

Reaching Kovur

From Guindy Kathipara Junction one should take the Butt Road leading to Porur Junction. From there take left towards the road leading to Kundrathur and you can reach Kovur in less than 5 KMS from the Porur Junction. The entrance is picturesque with an array of houses and tall Asoka Trees on either side and greets us by 85 ft high temple tower (Raja gopuram) unique and great in art and sculpture. This temple has the unique Maha Vilvam as its Sthala Vruksham. (Sacred tree in the temple) which has bunch of 27 leaves in one single stalk!!!

The Shrine

The Stone Plates reveals that the temple was built by Sundara Chozhan during 965 BC. The Lord here is named as Sundareswarar (a) Thirumaneeswarar. The Ambal is Soundrambika (a) Soundaryanayaki. The shrine proper is in the gajaprishta style, resembling the Tiruvottriyur temple. This therefore indicates that it was built in Pallava times. Both Swami and Ambal have their sanctums within the same super structure. Lord Sundareswarar faces east and is a fairly large lingam. There are icons for Kalyana Sundareswara with consort, Somaskanda, the Goddess Saundaryanayaki, Subrahmanya with Valli and Devasena, Nataraja with Sivakami and Manikkavachakar, and the arupattu moovars. In addition, the temple also houses an utsava moorti of Vishnu with Sreedevi and Bhoodevi. This moorti, titled Karunakara Perumal, is obviously of a sound vintage though the recess in which it is housed is modern and shows that the Perumal has been brought in here in relatively recent times.

Legend

According to legend, when Goddess Kamakshi did penance in the nearby Mangadu, the entire world trembled, as the heat that emerged was unbearable for all living beings. Then Goddess Mahalakshmi took the form of the celestial cow, Kamadhenu, and pacified Kamakshi. As a result, the intensity of the heat got reduced and the entire world heaved a sigh of relief. To add to this Lord Shiva showed the real swaroopam in the Linga along with Parvathi and came to be known as ‘Thirumeneeswarar’. The temple has a seven-tier Rajagopuram on the southern entrance and the sanctum sanctorum, like in many Shiva temples, is in "Gajabrushta" (elephant's back) form. As Mahalakshmi appeared here as a cow the place came to be known as Kovoor ("Ko" in Sanskrit means cow).

The holy water source is Sivaganga Theertham. Apart from the main shrines for the Lord and His Consort, there are shrines for Vinayaka, Subramanya, Dakshinamoorthy, Lingodbhavar, Brahma, Chandikeswarar, Durgai and Mahavishnu, known as Karunakara Perumal along with His Consorts. Pooja is offered five times in the temple, famous for its "Thiruvembavai" festival and the "Arudhra" festival in the Tamil month of Margazhi. Skanda Sashti Soora Samharam and Sivarathri festivals are also celebrated in the temple, which is flocked by thousands of devotees during the Thirukkalyanam Festival held on Vaikasi Visakam day. The presiding deities as well as the Panchamurthis will be taken in procession on that day.

Appar & Sekizhar

Legend is that the Saint Poet Sekizhar who was written the “Periya Puranam” got his first line “Ulagelam” from the Lord at Kovur. This temple is also sung by Saiva Saint “Thirunavukkarasar” (Appar) and is one of the Vaipu Sthalam (meaning temple mentioned in atleast one verse of their songs)

Saint Tyagaraja’s ‘Kovur Pancharatnam’

Tyagaraja while on his Stay in Madras at the request of Dubash Sundaresa Mudaliyar visited Kovur and composed five songs on the Lord later came to be known as “Kovur Pancharatnam”.

The five songs composed by the Saint are :

Sambho Mahadeva (Pantuvarali, Roopakam) is in Sanskrit and comprises pallavi, anupallavi and a single charanam. It is largely a descriptive ode of the attributes of Sundareswara.

Sundareswaruni joochi (Sankarabharanam, Adi) comprises pallavi, anupallavi and three charanams. Couched in Telugu, the song depicts a grand spectacle of the shrine and the deity.

E vasudha (Sahana, Adi) has pallavi, anupallavi and a single charanam of eight lines. Perhaps the most popular among the five songs composed at Kovur, it states that even if one were to stay for half a minute in Kovur, wealth and other benefits can be obtained.

Kori sevimparaare (Kharaharapriya, Adi) comprises pallavi, anupallavi and a charanam of four lines. Like his Raju vedala (Desia Todi, Roopakam) and Chootaamu raare (Arabhi, Roopakam), composed at Srirangam, Tyagaraja speaks of leading a group of devotees and urging them to come and worship at Kovur.

Nammi vacchina (Kalyani, Roopakam) has pallavi, anupallavi and a single charanam comprising four lines. The kriti beseeches the Lord to protect Tyagaraja who has come unto Him with true faith.

Temple Tower (Rajagopuram)

The temple tower (gopuram) gives pride of place to Saint Tyagaraja. The builder/designer has used his imagination and in the lowest panel shows Tyagaraja coming to Kovur in a palanquin with several disciples in his retinue. The muscular figure of Wallajapet Venkataramana Bhagavatar is easily identifiable. It would appear that Tyagaraja was received with royal honours for the procession is led by drummers, standard bearers and pipers. On the other side of the lower panel, one has the same procession repeated with Rama and Lakshmana bringing up the rear. This obviously refers to the divine brothers protecting the saint from dacoits en route to Tirupati. The upper storeys of the gopuram depict several incidents from Tyagaraja's life such as his tutelage under Sonti Venkataramanayya, his darsan of Narada and his visit to Tirupati. In the last named sequence, the sculptor has depicted the doors of the Tirupati temple being closed, whereas legend has it that it was the screen (tera) that was drawn preventing Tyagaraja from having darsan.


Reference
http://www.thehindu.com/
http://www.sruti.com/ (Article by V. Sriram)
http://www.podbazzar.com/
http://www.saintthyagarajar.com/
http://www.saigan.com/
http://www.india-forum.com/

A Guy called Randor

I recently attended two lectures delivered by Mr. Randor Guy (Photo Studios of Madras and Scandals and Secrets of Tamil Cinema) as part of the Madras Week celebrations in Chennai. The crowd for the later topic was huge and people were sitting on the floor to hear his story telling. People listen to him without closing their eyelids and with open mouth for hours together when he keeps telling about yester year film stories. Please read on to know more about Randor Guy.

Randor Guy is the pen name of Madabhushi Rangadorai (Born on March 13, 1945) is a well-known writer and journalist of India. He is also a noted film, social and cultural historian. His writings on a variety of subjects have appeared widely all over India in many languages like English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi in all the leading publications. After earning a BSc, BL from Madras University, Randor practiced as a lawyer for sometime and then started work as an executive in a leading broking firm, Paterson & Co., Madras for five years. He left his job in an agency in 1976 to work as full time creative professional. Guy is married to Dolores Guy.(Anglo Indian). He lives with his family in Ayanavaram, Chennai.

Guy has been writing books on history and films since 1967. However, he became popular when his article on Frank Capra was purchased by the United States Information Agency for use as a reference work. Randor Guy remains the only non-American whose work has been acquired as reference material by the Government of the United States of America. He was engaged by USIS, India to lecture on Capra and his films at Madras, Bangalore, Trivandrum and Hyderabad for the Retro in these cities, the first Indian to be so engaged.

Guy is a regular columnist for newspapers as the Mylapore Times, The Hindu and The Indian Express. He also writes for the film magazine Screen. He writes on a variety of topics though he is mainly popular as a film historian and critic. He was engaged by USIS, India to lecture on Capra and his films at Madras, Bangalore, Trivandrum and Hyderabad for the Retro in these cities, the first Indian to be so engaged.

Guy has also written the screenplay for a few short documentaries and feature films. He has also produced a few advertisement films. In 1999, he made a 100-minute feature film in English titled Perfumed Garden for a Hollywood film company. The film was also subsequently dubbed into Hindi, Tamil and Telugu as Brahmachari. He has also written a Sinhalese film called Paradise Peak based on a best-selling crime novel written by him. Currently, he is working with the screenplay for an English film called ‘Maya’. He also delivers lectures as Visiting Professor at Stella Maris College, Loyola College, New College, Tamil Nadu Film and Television Institute, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Institute of Mass Communications, Madras. Randor was a member of the selection panel for the Indian Panorama Films for the International Film Festival, Trivandrum, 1997. A proficient in English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, he believes that work is worship, and to worship is to work!

Awards

On November 12, 2007, during a function commemorating the fifth anniversary of Samudra, a magazine dedicated to art and culture, Guy was awarded the Gnana Samudra award in recognition of his contributions to arts.

Books written by Randor

While the Breakers Roared (Fiction) Indian Ribaldry (Fiction, published in India, Japan and USA) Murder for Pleasure (True Crime) Madhuri Oru Madhiri (Fiction - Tamil) Chaya (Fiction - Telugu) Kasi (Fiction - Telugu) B. N. Reddy (Film History) A History of Tamil Cinema (Film History - Govt. of Tamil Nadu) Chitale (Biography) Starlight Starbright - Early Tamil Cinema (Best-seller) Monsoon (Novelization of a Hollywood movie shot in India)

Klein and Peyerl – Photo Studio

I recently attended a lecture delivered by Mr. Randor Guy as part of the "Madras Week celebrations" in Chennai. The venue was M. Ct. Muthiah Chettiyar High School in Pursawalkam and the topic was on the Photo Studios of Chennai. He was referring about one Photo Studio by name Klein and Peyerl. The Madras photo collection known to many as the Harry Miller Collection were NOT his pictures. He only owned the collection till he sold it to Vintage Vignettes. The pictures in Madras were one of those seredipitous discoveries. Please read on to know more…

The firm Wiele and Klein was founded by an Englishman named Wiele, probably in the late 1880s. Before long, he took as partner a Theodor Klein, who was born of German parents in Madras. The earliest record of the firm Wiele and Klein is in 1890 when there's mention of it being a prize-winner at the Madras Fine Arts Exhibition. At 11, Mount Road, the studio was on the ground floor and Klein and his wife Valeska, whom he married in England in 1909, lived on the first floor, tending the store. Wiele, it would appear, preferred to move to the Blue Mountains, where the partners set up studios in Ooty and Coonoor around 1900.

The Great War had Klein, the German, out of the frame for its duration, but once it was over, Wiele decided to return home and Klein bought him out. The first thing Klein did was to sell the Round Tana property to Venkatapathi Naidu - a descendant of the founder of the city, Beri Thimmappa, and an active figure in civic affairs - and move to smaller premises further up Mount Road, between the LIC tower block and VST Motors. There he employed a young fellow German, Michael Peyerl, to run the shop and in the 1920s took him on as a partner. It is as Klein and Peyerl that Madras, till not so long ago, knew the firm - but in a different context.

During World War II, both Klein and Peyerl were interned as German nationals and the business was run by the Custodian of Enemy Property. Klein died during internment and, after the War, Peyerl decided to sell the firm and return to Germany. The firm was bought by Vettath John who continued the studio, but gradually made Klein and Peyerl the blockmakers most sought after by the letterpress printers and advertising agencies of South India. The wane of letterpress industry and a fire in 1987 spelt the end of Klein and Peyerl - a name the Johns retained - and the shell of the building was used by John's son Basu as offices.

One of the mysteries that the German owners left for posterity was an enormous collection of large and small glass plate negatives of India that the firm had accumulated. Besides the pictures taken by Wiele and Klein with their cumbersome equipment that weighed several scores of pounds and which needed several porters to carry, there were also negatives by Peyerl and Klein's brother-in-law Erwin Drinneberg. Holidaying in India in 1929-30, with his wife Elizabeth, Drinneberg, Klein and Peyerl with their families travelled to several parts of India and took hundreds of photographs. Many of these photographs found their way to Germany and over 500 of them were gifted by Elizabeth Drinneberg, after her husband's death, to the J&E von Partheim Stiftung (Endowment) in Heidelberg. A few years ago, a few of these pictures were exhibited in Madras.

An Englishman visiting Coonoor heard of a collection of pictures which a Miss Cooper, an ageing and penurious Anglo-India spinster, did not know what to do with. When he visited her, he found four huge custom-made teak boxes crammed with glass plate negatives. He told Harry Miller, perhaps the best known news photographer in the South in those days, about the collection and Miller sought the help of his friend, Eric Stracey, the then Inspector General of Police. Stracey had the collection picked up in Coonoor and brought to Madras in a police van. When Miller examined the collection, he found there were 1515 plates in all, ranging from 3 ½ x 4 ¼ inch quarter plates to 52 large plates of size 10x12 inches. Of them, over 300 were of Madras, including 100 and more of a bit of our lost heritage, the palms of Chepauk Park.

Harry Miller nursed this collection like a baby and whenever use was made of any of the pictures, the proceeds were used to help make Miss Cooper's last years more comfortable. As Miller himself became older, he was not able to care for the collection as it ought to have been and he sold it to a five-man partnership, `Vintage Vignettes', which now tends it.

The intriguing part of the collection is that there is no provenance to it. All that Miss Cooper could offer was that she had worked for a German family and they had left the collection with her and never came back for it. Could it have been Klein or Peyerl? Stracey's attempts to trace their heirs proved fruitless. Many such plates in old collections have the names of the photographers etched in the plates. There are plates with names of contemporaries of Klein and company, like Willie Blake, A. Nicholas, Tripe, and Bourke on them - but this collection has no names, though several pictures in it have dates. They all also have numbers - which perhaps tally with a catalogue or index - but of either, no trace was ever found. And so here in Madras is a provenance-less collection of brilliant photographs of an India of the past of which the most we can say is that there is a good chance that the photography was the work of Wiele, Klein, Peyerl and Drinneberg.

And if it was their work, they were indeed brilliant photographers - explaining why Wiele and Klein and then Klein and Peyerl were such popular studios in South India from the 1890s to the 1940s.

My experiments in Dining - Sree Mithai

I recently visited Shree Mithai Food Court @ Anna Nagar along with my family. The Hotel seems to be very new and the ambience and the furnishings are damn good. The Hotel is having three Floors. On the first floor the sweet shop is there, in the Second Floor the Food Court and the Restaurant is coming up on the third Floor.

The day was Sunday with limited seats available on the Second Floor the floor is full at 7 p.m. and huge Anna Nagar Crowd especially the north Indian faces are visible in the Hall. The decibel level is very high and there is a huge rush. We waited for some ten minutes as we were about seven people and the Court Manager helped us in getting the seats.

My sister’s son already started enquiring about a mocktail somebody was having and the manager told that the item was “Midnight Beauty”. We ordered the specialty of the Hotel “Special Chole Bhature”, Delhi Chat, Veg Pulav, Pav Bhaji, Mocktail “Blue Lagoon” which is a mix of juice and ice cream and finally the Kesar Badam Milk. All the items were very tasty and delicious. Also the price seems to be moderate. Chat items like Vada Pav, Bread Pokada, Dhokla Idli, Khandvi, Paneer pakoda, Bhakkarwardi etc., are available and the list of items are huge.I strongly recommend to try this out.

Shree Mithai, #189, Shanthi Colony,4th Avenue, Anna Nagar, Chennai

About Shree Mithai

Forty years ago Shri K. N. Patel left his village in Gujarat to follow his dreams. He came to Chennai in the year 1951 with a wealth of experience in dairy farming and an indomitable desire to realise his dream of making a success of his life. Shri Patel embarked upon his journey to success with the launching of Shree Milk Supply. Right from the start providing Quality products to his customers has been the primary concern for Shri Patel. One success followed another. Finally, his dreams culminated in the foundation of Shree Mithai. Shri Patel established this shop with the help of his two sons Mr. Kiran Patel and Mr. Mukesh Patel.

Today, Shree Mithai is synonymous with Quality Indian Sweets, Savouries & Chats. Infact, it is one of the most sought after names in the confectionery industry. 'Shree Mithai' is a sweet shoppe with a difference catering to a wide clientele, that has remained faithful and grown unprecedentely over the last decade.

The 'Shoppe' which can rightly be called a 'confectionery boutique' is spread over 2,000 sq.feet and functions at No.8, Dr. T. V.Road, chetpet, Chennai-600031. Uncompromising quality, flawless taste & amiable service are the hallmarks of the shoppe

Temple Visit - Chettipunyam

I recently went to Pondicherry while returning I took the dindivanam route and on the way visited a village called “Chetti Puniyam” where there is a temple for Lord Hayagriva. The Hayagriva in the temple, it is believed, bestows upon the devotees, education, wealth and progress in all walks of life. The avataram of Hayagriva Bhagavan took place to restore the Vedas to Brahma. Brahma became extremely conceited about his power as the creator. Lord Narayana discerning this, decided to rid Brahma of his pride. A couple of water droplets from the lotus seat of the Lord incarnated as two Asuras, Madhu and Kaitabha, who stole the Vedas from Brahma. Unable to carry on his work of creation without the Vedas, Brahma beseeched Lord Narayana for help. Lord Narayana incarnated as Hayagriva and destroyed the Asuras and restored the Vedas to Brahma. Swami Desikan has very eloquently described the greatness of Bhagavan Hayagriva in the Hayagriva Stotram. Many references from the Hayagriva Upanishad are succinctly contained in Swami Desikan's tribute.

In Hinduism, Hayagriva is an avatar of Vishnu. He is worshipped as the God of knowledge and wisdom, with a human body and a horse's head, brilliant white in color, with white garments and seated on a white lotus. Hayagriva is celebrated in the Puranas for rescuing the Vedas from the demons Madhu and Kaitabha and teaching them again to Brahma. Symbolically, the story of Hayagriva represents the triumph of pure knowledge, guided by the hand of God, over the demonic forces of passion and darkness. Hayagriva is a very important deity in the Vaishnava tradition. His blessings are sought when beginning study of both sacred and secular subjects. Special worship is conducted on the day of the full moon in August (Sravana-Paurnami) (his avatara-dina) and on Mahanavami, the ninth day of the Navaratri festival. He is also hailed as "Hayasirsa" HayaSirsa means haya=Horse, Sirsa=Head.

jnAna-Ananda-mayam devam
nirmala-sphaTikAkRtim
AdhAram sarvavidyAnAm
hayagrIvam upAsmahe!

This verse is originally from the Pancaratra Agamas but is now popularly prefixed to the Hayagriva Stotram of the 13th century poet-philosopher Vedanta Desika. It is very popular among devotees of Hayagriva.

The idol, small but bewitching, was brought to Chettipunyam from Thiruvahindrapuram in 1848, and attracts many devotees. Lakshmi Hayagriva is the presiding deity of the Parakala Math in Mysore. There are also sannidhis for Hayagriva in the Desikar temple in Mylapore and also in the Soundarraja Perumal temple in Dadikombu near Dindigul.

In Thiruvahindrapuram, Vedanta Desika recited the Garuda Mantra taught to him by his uncle, Kidambi Appular and was initiated into the worship of Hayagriva by Garuda. Desika composed the Hayagriva Stotram in 33 verses. Apart from the `phalasruti' there are 32 verses. There is a reason for Desika writing the Stotram in 32 verses. The Brahma vidyas are 32 in number. His composing the Hayagriva Stotram in 32 verses is to show that Hayagriva is the repository of all vidyas. Desika says the neighs of Hayagriva are the essence of the Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas. The 32nd verse which is the `dhyana sloka,' speaks of Hayagriva's right lower hand as `vyakhyamudra' - the elucidating pose and the left lower hand holds a book. Desika says that Saraswati, Dakshinamurthy and sages like Vyasa reflect a fraction of Lord Hayagriva's effulgence.

Singaperumal Koil, which is neither a village nor a city but a delightful mix of both, is about 45 km to the south of Chennai. The Devanathaswamy Temple is situated about 3 km West of Singaperumal Koil. Devanathaswamy resides in a village named Chettipunniyam, which boasts of four or five streets. The presiding deity, Devanathaswamy, sits facing East.

Though there is no direct bus from the city, route no. 60c plying from Tambaram to Vadakal takes one to the temple. The other way to reach the Devanathaswamy Temple, from the city is to reach Singaperumal Koil, by buses going Kalpakkam, Madurantakam, Chengalpattu, and then go by autorickshaw to the Devanathaswamy Temple. Though a Sannidhi for Varadaraja Perumal has been in this temple for the last 350 years, it was only in 1848, thanks to the efforts of Sirasdar Rao Sahib Rangachar that the idol of Devanathaswamy of Tiruvendipuram was installed in this temple. The year was 1848; the day Friday; month Vaigasi; date 22; and the star Makam. From that day, daily pooja is offered to this deity. Devanathaswamy did not come alone but along with Hayagrivar. These facts are corroborated by the Government Gazette records of the South Arcot Government, of the same year.

The idols of Thayar, Sridevi, Boodevi and Andal were installed after this. The idols of Sri Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman were brought to Vandalur in Chennai, in the year 1868, on Oct 5, by Mudumbai Ramaswamy Iyengar, from the Tanjore Palace. When Ramaswamy Iyengar migrated to Bangalore, he had all these Gods installed in the Devanathaswamy Temple, since Chettipunniyam, was his native village. There is a separate sanctum sanctorum for Sri Rama in this temple. It has to be mentioned here that the first Mysore Dewan Veeravalli Rangachar (1831-1883) also hailed from this village.

The villagers conduct the 'Thiruparvettai' festival in a grand manner, on a Sunday in the month of 'Thai' (Jan 15 - Feb 15), every year. The temple trust organises a number of utsavs like Sri jayanthi, Special thai velli poojas, Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi, Sri Desikan Sathumurai, Vaigasi magam and Deepa (Lights) utsavam. The devotees also conduct many utsavs - adhyayana utsav, Vijaya dasami, Adi Pooram, Panguni Uthiram, Udayavar Saathumurai and Sri Ramanavami. Another famous celebration was Sri Devanathaswamy's centenary (100 years in this temple), which was celebrated for 10 days, in grand style.

After a very long time, in 1993, the Ashtabandhana Maha Samprokshanam was performed on May 17.The devotees of the village say, as far as their knowledge goes, no Samprokshanam had been done in the last 100 years. This famous temple is under the HR & CE board. An officer has been appointed to manage the affairs of the temple. A five-member committee oversees the functioning of the temple. The temple owns about 55 acres of agricultural land and a big grove, in the village. It also owns a house thanks to Thiru Rangaswamy Iyengar, who has donated his ancestral home to the temple.