"My father introduced the famous Mauritius (Morris Pazham) banana in our region. This variety was known to ripen fast and most of the farmers tried to sell it raw. Father used to sell it ripe enough for eating. Therefore the bananas were divided into small bunches like loaves and stacked in our mobile retail vehicle. People used to wait in order to buy them for immediate consumption. He made us colour the bananas with lines and this was akin to bar coding. I remember drawing the lines on the bananas during my school days. This helped the vehicle sales person to maintain the product classification and sales. It was a fool proof method," smiled Marudachalam.K, the founder of R K Photo Centre.
"My father introduced the famous Mauritius (Morris Pazham) banana in our region. This variety was known to ripen fast and most of the farmers tried to sell it raw. Father used to sell it ripe enough for eating. Therefore the bananas were divided into small bunches like loaves and stacked in our mobile retail vehicle. People used to wait in order to buy them for immediate consumption. He made us colour the bananas with lines and this was akin to bar coding. I remember drawing the lines on the bananas during my school days. This helped the vehicle sales person to maintain the product classification and sales. It was a fool proof method," smiled Marudachalam.K, the founder of R K Photo Centre.
The Kalingarayar canal provides water for a large number of farmers in the Kongu region. This 700 plus year hydrological marvel was created by a local ruler belonging to the Sathandhai clan. The family of Krishnaswamy Gounder belonged to this noteworthy clan. R.Krishnaswamy Gounder was born to Ramaswamy Gounder and Meenakshi Ammal of the same clan. Ramaswamy Gounder was associated with the original Congress party and he was against the use of alcohol. His father Marudamalai Gounder was the son of Karuppa Gounder. Marudamalai Gounder was known for his skill and kind approach.
The abkari contractors were like the British appointed zamindars and therefore a number of cases were foisted against him. Ramaswamy Gounder's opposition to alcohol had earned him their ire. Benevolent landlord V.C.Vellingiri Gounder and T.A.Ramalingam Chettiar (father of the co operative movement) used to stand in as his supporters during critical moments. The residence of Ramaswamy Gounder was like a place ready for protests based on dharma and it was imbibed with a spiritual atmosphere. All the protestors who took part in the non violent protests based on civic discourse were fed in his house. R.Krishnaswamy Gounder was born in this temple of righteousness.
The father Ramaswamy Gounder loved the Tamil language and therefore got his son trained by a Tamil Pandit who lived in Ganapathy. Eventually R.Krishnaswamy Gounder became a Tamil Pandit. He was known for referring to the Thirukkural by Thiruvalluvar at all times. The people who came into contact with him got enriched due to these references. His residence ' Uzhavagam ' was famous those days and the visitors him during lunch hours had to compulsorily eat along with him. R.Krishnaswamy Gounder was a hands on farmer who practiced diligence. He took to active farming and ensured that the farmhands were adequately motivated. R.Krishnaswamy Gounder (RK) was keen to ensure that his farm produce got a fair price. Therefore he took to direct marketing in order to ensure that the middleman did not run away with the revenues which were due to him. His huge four wheeled bullock cart was his store and it brought him good returns. The vehicle had racks and other facilities which were required for retailing. RK went into sericulture and he quit because of the conditions imposed by the colonial masters. He undertook a number of experiments in his farm and his farm functioned like an agricultural college.
The merchants from Salem used to buy tapioca at throw away prices and therefore RK established his own facility in order to produce sago. He understood that the tree was an oxygen factory. RK did not get carried away by superstitions. He retained the jujube trees in his farm by not giving room to superstitions. RK was a deeply religious person who was a pure vegetarian.
RK was a farmer, inventor, innovator, politician, naturopath, thinker and a Tamil scholar. He had once facilitated the purchase of a tractor by V.C.Subbiah Gounder and situation forced him to acquire it for himself. However he recovered the cost by using the tractor innovatively during the development of Tatabad and Sivananda Colony. This earned him a number of accolades from the authorities. RK was a bus owner and he faced a lot of legal issues in this business. Those were times when bus permits were not renewed for RK due to cronyism. However the uncrowned king of the transport business G.D.Naidu got his permits on time. Therefore RK used a novel method. He offered to take passengers free of cost into the Kochi principality and then charged them inside Kerala. The motivated authorities got about 360 cases registered on RK and the licenses of his 16 drivers were cancelled. However, he went to the High Court and got all of them reinstated. Finally the Collector and his competitor G.D.Naidu were forced to cede space to RK. This litigation caused him a lot of money. RK had to sell 2 acres of land in Crosscut Road and also his expensive ' Parker ' pen for the purpose of financing his litigation. Subsequently he quit the bus business. Eventually G.D.Naidu became his friend.
The creativity of RK got a fair deal for the farmers who produced jaggery in their farms. Traders used to exploit the farmers and RK used to pay by a post dated cheque (10 days only as against a promise of a 30 day payment from the traders) while purchasing the jaggery from them. He was a ' cashless pioneer ' long ago. He was an innovator who made bio gas equipment. He founded the RK Nature Cure Centre and his move put Coimbatore on the ' Naturopathy ' map of the world. His Gurus were Thiruvalluvar and Gandhi. RK practiced naturopathy all his life. He was later on awarded a doctorate.
RK was the President of the Ganapathy Panchayat Union for 15 years. His communication was simple for he sent out a note stating that if elected he would work for the people and if not elected he would stand to gain for he would work for himself. No wonder a sensible electorate voted him to power. He joined the Swatantra Party under Rajaji and was the MLA representing Avinashi constituency. He resigned from the party in the interest of the farmers and in order to keep up political ethics, RK resigned his MLA post. Rajaji had stated that such a thing was only possible in the Swatantra Party. He contested the Pollachi MP elections at a time when DMK was ruling the roost. Unfortunately the electorate did not choose him. It was a loss to the people of the land. The productive farmer was the Secretary of the Swatantra Party and he used to campaign along with industrialist G.K.Sundaram during the formative years of the party. RK participated in a number of issues connected with the farming community all his life and was incarcerated for his role. A number of farmers had lost their lives during their protests. The bullock cart protests were conducted by the farmers and this made a mark. He had met leaders like Sir C.V.Raman, Omandur Ramaswamy Reddiar, Rajaji, Nehru, Kamaraj, Periyar, Anna, Karunanidhi, M.G.Ramachandran, J. Jayalalithaa and a number of other people of eminence. Swami Satchithananda was his close relative and RK had visited the US Ashram founded by the former.
It is worth recalling an interesting incident connected with E.V.R.Periyar and R.Krishnaswamy Gounder. The spiritual and God believing R.Krishnaswamy Gounder had to share the stage with E.V.R.Periyar those days. He stated that one can take what they wanted from the teachings of Periyar and leave out the rest. Periyar visited RK in order to understand the reason behind this utterance. RK wanted to know if Periyar agreed fully with Thirukkural. The reformist leader stated that he would study and then agree on what was acceptable to him. RK told Periyar that if the leader could accept only what he felt was right from a great work which had been translated into 80 languages, how could he expect him to agree to all the views expressed. E.V.R.Periyar agreed to this contention of RK.
R.Krishnaswamy Gounder fought against the land ceiling for farmers. He felt that such a ceiling was absent in other activities. RK took part in a number of conferences which were held in the interest of the farmers. He was a journalist cum editor of four magazines - Velalar Valiban connected with the organization founded by V.C.Subbiah Gounder. Uzhavan and Perigai were also managed by him. ' Er Uzhavan ' was his main publication. One can get to see his stand, integrity and stance in this magazine. It was managed by him for about 25 years and the publication was stopped due to his advancing age. He returned the subscription sum to his readers. He was perhaps the only one to do so. His travelogues in Er Uzhavan were much awaited by the readers. He did not use glamour in his publications. RK used to criticize the State and the Central Governments. Therefore it was difficult to get advertisements and a newsprint quota for Er Uzhavan.
RK was the Agriculture Division President of the BJP and the party veteran Murali Manohar Joshi had visited his home and the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been to his home in Ganapathy. "Father was a frank and outspoken person. He never hesitated to give his opinion and there was no compromise on his policy. He acted without fear or favour. This was practiced by him with one and all, irrespective of position or influence," added K.Marudachalam. The couple - R.Krishnaswamy Gounder and Marammal were blessed with Indirajothi, Ramaswamy (Founder - Roots Industries Limited), Marudachalam and Ponmalai.
R.Krishnaswamy Gounder believed in naturopathy and he used to sort out his health issues with options found in the world of naturopathy. He believed in naturopathy and was extremely conscious of his health. Initially he took to fasting on the lines of Gandhi, set his body right and continued with the practice of naturopathy thereafter. His love for Tamil had taken him to Malaysia and he delivered a special address at the Tamil Mahanadu in this Asian country. This organic farmer used to import cycles from Germany prior to the second world war. RK was against needless corporal punishment. The first student used to get one whack with a cane, the second got two and it progressed. He protested and put an end to this practice.
The life and work of R.Krishnaswamy Gounder have made a mark on the society. His contribution is sure to inspire people to take to an ethical and organic life.