Periyakadai Veedhi (Big Bazaar Street) was the commercial hub of this region for a long time. This commercial heart of Coimbatore was a huge centre for jewellery. The Thyagi Kumaran Market created by Diwan Bahadur C.S.Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar has continued to create more wealth. The shops and commerce were supported by street food vendors like Govindanna, the ' Kaiyendhi Bhavan ' (those days restaurants were endowed with a suffix ' Bhavan ' and Kaiyendhi meant that it the plate of food was held by one's own hand in order to eat) pioneer.
Periyakadai Veedhi (Big Bazaar Street) was the commercial hub of this region for a long time. This commercial heart of Coimbatore was a huge centre for jewellery. The Thyagi Kumaran Market created by Diwan Bahadur C.S.Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar has continued to create more wealth. The shops and commerce were supported by street food vendors like Govindanna, the ' Kaiyendhi Bhavan ' (those days restaurants were endowed with a suffix ' Bhavan ' and Kaiyendhi meant that it the plate of food was held by one's own hand in order to eat) pioneer.
Govindanna or Govindaraja Chettiar was born to Avatharammal and Chinnaswamy Chettiar of the Mottu Veedu family. They hailed from Pasamalur near Trichy. The family had to endure a bit of suffering and once well off Govindanna had to work as a cook in the residence of P.N.Radhakrishna Chettiar of Vysial Street in Coimbatore. He used to sell milk opposite to K.R & Sons Jewellery and thereafter he began to vend tasty home made food in Big Bazaar Street.
"Father began by making food at home and then he would make all of us carry the same in a wooden box to Big Bazaar Street. We had to make two to three trips from our house in Vysial Street. The selling point was the thinnai (verandah) of A.R.S.K Jewellery for some years. We lived in a ' padhi kaapuram ' (ten tiny residences in one complex) belonging to K.Ramakrishna Pillai of K.R & Sons. Bhajanai Santhanam stayed in the larger portion and the other portions were just ten feet by ten feet or so. We cooked, ate and slept in that room house itself. Father earned money, bought a ' thallu vandi ' (push cart) later for the purpose of carrying the stove, packing material and the ingredients to the point of sale. We used to sell idli priced at 5 paise, lemon sevai priced at 25 paise ( both would be made at home itself) along with onion chutney, sambar and chutney. Father would make adai (25 paise), butter for the adai (10 paise), appam (20 paise), dosai (10 paise) at the point of sale and the bhatter was hand processed at home. The recipes were by my father. The business would begin by 8 PM and go on till 1 AM. We functioned from 1965 to 1987. A huge theft in Selvam Jewellery on Big Bazaar Street put a stop to the Kaiyendhi Bhavan business," shared Dhandapani, the founder of Sumangali Agarbatti.
Dhandapani is a self made entrepreneur and he had trained under his uncle, the founder of Kurinjipoo Agarbatti in Coimbatore. This son of Govindanna remembers grinding the bhatter in order to earn money. The income was used for watching movies like Ooty Varai Uravu and Maattukaravelan. The 100 square feet house came with a rent of Rs.10 per month. Govindanna, his wife Neelabai and their six kids lived in the tiny home. The kids used to work with the father, but return home by 10:30 PM. Govindanna used to work until 1 AM. He used to wait for the night show people who would visit him for food. It was a lot of hard work. Govindanna slept by 2 AM or so and would get up early by about 5 AM in order to get water for their family. There used to be a que those days for water. He used to eat and then shop for materials during the day. Govindanna would return home by 12 PM and hit the sack. He would get up by 3 PM in the afternoon, eat his food and then begin his work for the evening. Life was tough and his sleeping hours were split into two units of three hours each.
Govindanna and his brother Nagamayya were in the same business. Each of them worked on their own. Nagamayya had been a cook in the Sri Krishna & Co (jewelers) home for some time. They used to have holidays on alternate Tuesdays. It was a time to meet and catch up at home over long chats. "Father had the shop in front of A.R.S.K Jewellery for sometime. The owner A.R.S.Krishnamurthy and family used to come to eat often. They used to be served food inside their shop itself. The owner's wife Shanthabai used to be decked with almost a basket of stranded jasmine flowers then. We moved over to the front of Rajalakshmi & Co (jewelers) and then in front of S.Ramalingam Chettiar (Jewelers) later on. A charge had to be paid to the shop keepers for we were using their infrastructure. Basically my father Govindanna and uncle Nagamayya worked in order to educate their younger siblings. Today our full family is educated and well placed. My son is in Germany these days," added Dhandapani of Sumangali Perfumery.
Many of the shop keepers and their staff used to love the food made by Govindanna. They loved the adai with butter. They had put on a lot of weight eating the food made by him. B.V.Shekhar of Rajalakshmi & Co was his famous customer. He used to simply love the sambar and Govindanna used to reserve some for him. Avathar Jewellers Srinivasan and Kairasi Finance Ganesh were regulars. "One day Kairasi Finance Ganesh left a parcel in our push cart and it was given back to him the next day. My father wanted to understand that it belonged to him before it was handed over. Vasavi Sound Service Jagannathan was my father's friend. He used to eat and an account was maintained for him and also his staff. The money was adjusted when our family marriages took place. Vasavi Sound Service did the decorations and lights for the marriages. Both the friends got what they wanted from each other," stated Dhandapani. His wife Pushpalatha happens to be his aunt's daughter and she had helped her father in law Govindanna in his day to day work. Dhandapani remembers people getting parcels for movie actor Sivaji Ganesan. This happened during the movie shoots in Coimbatore.
Dhandapani recalls the early days when the owner of Raja Theatre gave them a pass to watch movies. The family used to visit the Tirumala Tirupati Balaji temple year on year. "B.S.Balavenkataraman of Kiruba Jewellery helped us by giving his space on Oppanakkara Street at a time when we had to shut shop on Big Bazaar Street. He simply loved the food made by my father. A lot of Airforce people from Sulur were our customers. They used to tell us they would help us set up shop in Sulur. My agarbatti business began to do well and I built a house for myself. Thereafter father stopped working. We live in a house on a property belonging to us. It measures 10000 square feet plus. My father's hard work has made it possible to move from a rented space measuring 100 square feet to an own building measuring 10000 square feet. Hard work is the mother of good luck. My father had put in very hard work. My parents are blessed with 16 grand children and 22 great grand children (thus far). It is his blessings that are sustaining us," smiled Dhandapani.
The cook turned food vendor ' Kaiyendhi Bhavan ' Govindanna had set a trend and it fetched results for his entire family.