Coimbatore and its neighbourhood have been textile centres for thousands of years. International commerce had added to the wealth of this region. These prosperous events date to the Sangam era. The onset of the Vijayanagar rule gave the town a fort and hardy cotton farmers who had migrated from the Telugu speaking parts of our country. Black cotton soil and the new seeds from the other parts of the Empire added to the cotton diversity and also weaving. Coimbatore became prosperous once more. The nineteenth century saw the advent of Europeans and they brought in their own seeds and techniques. Some of the experiments failed to create an impact. However modern ginning caught on and a number of traditional farmers turned themselves into modern ginners. The introduction of the cycle in the year 1895 by Frazer, the Secretary of Sir Robert Stanes made life easier. Enterprising cotton farmers like the PSG Brothers, Rao Bahadur V. Gopal Naidu, V.Rangaswamy Naidu of Radhakrishna Mills cycled their way to the cotton markets. They emulated the efforts of Sir Robert Stanes, Diwan Bahadur P.Somasundaram Chettiar and a few others in the north by establishing spinning mills in Coimbatore.
Coimbatore and its neighbourhood have been textile centres for thousands of years. International commerce had added to the wealth of this region. These prosperous events date to the Sangam era. The onset of the Vijayanagar rule gave the town a fort and hardy cotton farmers who had migrated from the Telugu speaking parts of our country. Black cotton soil and the new seeds from the other parts of the Empire added to the cotton diversity and also weaving. Coimbatore became prosperous once more. The nineteenth century saw the advent of Europeans and they brought in their own seeds and techniques. Some of the experiments failed to create an impact. However modern ginning caught on and a number of traditional farmers turned themselves into modern ginners. The introduction of the cycle in the year 1895 by Frazer, the Secretary of Sir Robert Stanes made life easier. Enterprising cotton farmers like the PSG Brothers, Rao Bahadur V. Gopal Naidu, V.Rangaswamy Naidu of Radhakrishna Mills cycled their way to the cotton markets. They emulated the efforts of Sir Robert Stanes, Diwan Bahadur P.Somasundaram Chettiar and a few others in the north by establishing spinning mills in Coimbatore.
Chennimalai Krishna Chetty was the most prosperous cotton merchant of those times and he lived in a palatial mansion on Trichy Road. His wife had the first huge diamond necklace of the times. This was the diamond necklace of Coimbatore. She wore gold tassles everyday. V.S. Sengottiah was the other successful cotton trader and he was the proud owner of the first Rolls Royce car in town. There were just about a dozen mills at the beginning of the second world war. A number of cotton trading companies set up shop in Coimbatore in order to elicit business. Quite a few cotton traders and brokers settled in the upcoming region.
Devidas Wasudev Payal, a native of Maharashtra was one of the early cotton trade professionals who made Coimbatore his home. Payal was born to Wasudev and Yamuna Bai in Maharashtra. The family hailed from the Nagpur area. Payal had studied Sanskrit up to his S.S.L.C and was very knowledgeable. He had gone to write his exams in a traditional attire and was not permitted to do so. Somehow he managed to get modern clothes immediately and was let to write the exams. Devidas Payal joined Volkart & Co and they sent him to Digras for training. He picked up the skills required for analyzing cotton. Payal could assess the staple length of cotton properly. Therefore the company decided to post him at Coimbatore around the year 1940. His proficiency earned him a place in the company.
"Father moved over to Coimbatore and he used to visit mills on a cycle. He did not know anyone in town and just made visits to the mills. His approach was well received in Coimbatore. The first salary was quite low and our mother Tarabai had to do a bit of tight rope walking during the early days. However, she was an amazing home maker who ensured that each of us did very well in life," stated jeweler Krishnakumar Payal, the founder of Facets.
Payal used to deal with C.S & W Mills (Coimbatore Spinning & Weaving Mills), Kaleeswarar Mills and Somasundaram to start with. He began dealing with the others over time and Sri Karthikeya Mills was among his list of leading clients. The mills wanted imported cotton and Payal was a leading resource person for the same. Volkart had the license to import and they could source Egyptian, African and American cotton regularly. Egyptian cotton was much preferred by the mill owners. Payal had just made cold calls. He had a cotton roll sample and that was all. He used to introduce himself and strike deals with the management. He had later shifted to Narsee Nagsee & Company and they were among the largest sellers of imported cotton. Their Egyptian cotton had been in great demand.
Devidas Wasudev Payal had a large family. His wife 10 kids and others including his mother lived along with him. They lived in Arunachalam Street and later moved over to Gobind Singh Road in R.S.Puram. Payal had purchased a plot in Vincent Colony and moved in after constructing his own house. He had moved over to Gobind Singh Road in order to ensure the speedy and qualitative construction of his home. They used to walk to the site on a snake like path. He had at last settled in Coimbatore and had moved away from his native village Sonala, Maharashtra .
Payal was a brutally honest cotton trade professional. He would speak the truth and this trait stood him well in his career and his life. His knowledge of Sanskrit was simply amazing. "We used to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi for 11 days. A pooja would take place everyday, morning and evening. An arati would be performed and prasad used to be offered to Lord Ganesha. Since father was an expert in sastra, the officiating priests used to take a lot of care in the performance of the rituals connected with the pooja. Mother was a noble lady. She inculcated a number of good traits in all of us by telling us stories from the epics and puranas. We used to have a Ram Durbar icon in our pooja room," stated Sanjay Payal and he lives in Fiji. The mother Tarabai was a member of the R S Puram Ladies Club and was a shuttle player . She had won a rummy tournament during her prime.
The entire family was patriotic. The daughter in law from Fiji used to request Indian visitors to fetch a fist of soil from the motherland. She has made a heap with the soil so recieved. Her ancestors had participated in the first war of Indian independence in 1857 and had to migrate to Fiji due to the same. Their surname happens to be Vajpayee.
The people of Maharashtra have always followed a patriotic tradition and a story shared by Krishnakumar exemplifies the same, “My wife Varsha travelled with me to the USA and we stayed in the house of a relative. Varsha was wearing a ear stead made with an English coin which had Queen Victoria on it. One seeing this our host relative requested my wife to not wear the ear ring. She stated that we had been looted enough. I can never forget this incident,” mentioned Krishnakumar Payal.
The grandfather of Devidas Wasudev Payal was a Dikshit (Kashinath Payal) who was the officiating priest in the Lord Ram temple in Sonala near Nagpur. It was a dry and arid place. He used to offer food to the visiting pilgrims. Once, the Raja of Nagpur enjoyed his hospitality and offered him the land that his eye could capture. Kashinath Payal recieved 1463 acres as a grant from the ruler. This land was later taken over under land ceiling. The practise of feeding continued and Devidas Payal, The panchagacham wearing professional used to make his wife serve food and sweets like Pooranpoli for his birthday feasts year on year. It was celebrated with his friends.
Devidas Payal had been open minded and frank. He never liked to misrepresent. "We were studying in Mani high School with a lot of mill owner kids. Once one of us had to take a leave in order to purchase items from the ration shop. Father was very clear, he stated the truth in the leave letter and did not give a false reason. That was his nature," added Krishnakumar Payal. Devidas Payal had been to Badrinath, Kedarnath and also undertaken an arduous journey to Amarnath those days. He used to do 24 Surya Namaskars a day and offer prayers at home. Payal would rub a piece of sandalwood on a stone and apply the paste on his forehead regularly. He had an exclusive stone for this purpose. All the Upanayanams of his kids were done at the Gita Lodge. He had been a member of the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club. His close friends were Nagarathinam Mudaliar and Venugopal Naidu.
"Father used to motivate us to do things properly. He would use English phrases and proverbs often. I still can remember him using the phrase - A bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush. He used the proverb - Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise. It was a good prompter for us. He was like a dictionary of English words and proverbs. His other one was - A penny saved is a penny earned. Father did all his work by himself. He used both his index fingers to type and he would do it with aplomb. Our telegraphic address was ' Nottac ' (the reverse of cotton) and the phone number was 3431. He used to spell out P - A - Y - A - L in an interesting manner over the phone. It was Peter (P), Andrew (A), Yellow (Y), Andrew (A) and Lucy (L). The office was at home. We used to receive a lot of communications and contracts from many African countries. All of us used to collect the stamps which contained animals. Well, those were exciting times," added Sanjay Payal. Devidas Payal had been excellent with crossword puzzles and he used solve them in a jiffy. The Illustrated Weekly of India used to offer big prizes for the winners. Devidas Payal won a princely sum of Rs.8000 by solving a crossword puzzle in Illustrated Weekly during the early fifties of the last century. His son Sanjay had just been born .
Gudi Padwa was celebrated year on year. A chembu and a saree used to be placed in front of their house at the this time which happens to be the Maharashtrian New Year. Devidas Payal made the kids be aware of the dignity of labour. They pressed their own clothes and were paid a financial reward for doing so. Payal had been blessed with a fantastic memory and he could just remember all his transactions. It was not necessary to refer to the papers at any point of time.
"I still remember the purchase of tops from a small workshop near Kennedy Theatre. Father used to give us the money and we would rush to the spot. The top maker used to colour the top based on our choice. These tops were customized. They were made of wood and we were very happy to get a top made of rosewood. It was the best among the tops. The brought up by our parents have helped us to secure a good place for ourselves in the world. We are grateful to them", smiled Krishnakumar, (named so for being born as the eighth child) while his nephew Shashankh joined the conversation which took place over some good Maharashtrian food made by Varsha Krishnakumar and this was followed by a hot cup of hibiscus tea.
The story of Devidas Payal and his winning of the crossword will sure motivate people to participate and win events like Kaun Banega Crorepati. He was the first one to win this kind of prize from Coimbatore !