Everest Somasundaram ( 1920 - 2010 ) was born to Ramakkammal and Alagiriswamy Achariar ( a village blacksmith) in Alandurai. The ' Iron Man ' was popularly known as Somu in the business and social circles.
Everest Somasundaram ( 1920 - 2010 ) was born to Ramakkammal and Alagiriswamy Achariar ( a village blacksmith) in Alandurai. The ' Iron Man ' was popularly known as Somu in the business and social circles.
" Father was a true blacksmith by birth and profession. He was wedded to excellence all his life. We belong to the Viswakarma community. The community has five professional categories and they are - blacksmiths, goldsmiths, sculptors, vessel makers and carpenters. We speak all the Indian languages. Our home tongue is Telugu. The Kuladievam is Venkatachalapathy. Father studied at the school in Alandurai and he learnt smithy from grandfather. He did not want to study further and wanted to join his father. Since he was small made at that time, grandfather felt that it would be difficult for father to work with the heavy tools. He felt that the youngster could study and join Government service. Finally grandfather decided to leave the decision in the hands of God. Therefore they went to the temple and asked for a ' Poo ' ( flower - normally people would place white and red flowers in front of the deity. If they received a white flower it was a green signal). Father got a white flower and began to master smithy with the consent of God. Subsequently grandfather felt that the family had to move to Coimbatore in order to develop commercially, " stated S.Manoharan, the eldest son of Somu from the Everest Bungalow on N.S.R Road.
The huge life like painting of Swami Chinmayananda adds to the beauty of the old residence. The fantastically made window grills are but a small example of Somu's quest for quality.
The father and son ( Alagiriswamy & Somu ) duo took a contract to make things for the Coimbatore Murugan Mills. Their work attracted the attention of the doyen of industry R.Venkataswamy Naidu. They did the ' truss work ' for the mill. Work was done well because Somu hailed from a Smithy background. He learnt, executed and got a feel plus confidence in fabrication work. The Nanco Rubber Factory was another of the early projects for Somu.
Somu had also worked in Tirupur for sometime during a dry period. Those were challenging moments in his life. He had worked in the sites connected with Tirupur Textliles and SRC Mills. He had also done truss work at Radhakrishna Mills, Central Studios, Royal Theatre, Pakshiraja Studios etc., over a period of time.
G.D.Naidu was a leading entrepreneur of the times and he had established ' Argus Engineering ' in Peelamedu. G.G.Naidu, the younger brother of G.D.Naidu suggested that Somu take up a job in Argus. The young man joined Argus and worked in the venture for sometime. Somu used to cycle all the way from Alandurai with a can of ' Siruvani ' water and packed lunch. It was a time when a young crop of Coimbatoreans went overseas to pursue their higher education. Textool D.Balasundaram was one of the bright young stars of the era. He had been coming to Argus and had once told his friends that Somu was the only fit guy and that he wished to absorb him into his future venture. Somu eventually joined Textool Balasundaram with the consent of G.D.Naidu.
Everest Somasundaram was married to Kamakshi Ammal and the couple were blessed with four daughters and four sons. His huge and imposing residence had been a hub of activity those days. The home had received a large number of guests who included relatives and entrepreneurs.
Somu joined Textool Balasundaram and was an employee under him on the day of the ' Foundation Pooja '. The cotton growing land became a factory and he assimilated much under D.Balasundaram. " Father used to visit Radhakrishna Mills and study the ring frames. The boss V.Rangaswamy Naidu used to visit the mill and do his rounds those days. He asked my father to come only during the weekends and take the spares in order to make a mould or to study. V.Rangaswamy Naidu was keen to offer assistance but he did not want the machine running time to be reduced. Father used to take the parts on Sundays and return them on Mondays. This went on for sometime. He also made a gear hobbing machine with the guidance of his boss D.Balasundaram. 7 spinning frames were assembled in the first batch. Father left Textool and started Everest Engineering in the year 1947. He started making ' dosakallus ', ' vadasattis ' and later, went on to make many other things. Father used to be found in a ' white and white ' outfit all the time.
Once he had been to Chennai on work and stayed in the ' Everest Hotel '. He had resolved to name his company as ' Everest ' on the successful receipt of the order. It happened and the company came to be known as ' Everest Engineering Works ', stated S.Manoharan.
Somu had also spent time with his father Alagiriswamy Achariar in the Kunnamma workshop in Pappanaickenpalayam during his boyhood days.
He used to be found with a blazer, dhoti and several rings on his fingers as a boy. Everest began making gates, grills for windows and truss work all over Coimbatore. Quality was the hallmark. All the big landlord and mill owner bungalows were furbished by him. " Everest Somasundaram had made the grills and sliding doors for ' Green Banks ', our family residence. The house was built by my father K.Venkatesalu ( DPF Textiles ) and the house warming took place in 1963. He had given the best quality those days. The finish and reliability cannot be replicated in that kind of work today, " recalled Prema Dhamodharan, the daughter of K.Venkatesalu.
Everest Engineering did a lot of site work. Several iconic projects which were to become the hallmarks of the city's success were worked on by Somu and his team.
South India Viscose, MALCO ( Madras Aluminium Company ), CIT ( Coimbatore Institute of Technology ), LMW ( Lakshmi Machine Works ), Amaravathi Sugar Mills, Central Theatres etc., Prof G.R.Damodaran had been at the helm of affairs in Amaravathi Sugar Mills and he put a condition that Somu of Everest will do the truss work for the factory.
Everest did a lot of work with a number of big ventures which included large Public Sector Undertakings.
The companies were Trichy Distilleries, Mandya Sugars, Jawahar Mills, Bhadravathi Iron & Steel, BHEL ( Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited ), BEML ( Bharat Earth Movers Limited ), ONGC, ISRO, BARC etc., He did very well technically in spite of his simple academic background. However he would always cross verify with people with sound technical knowledge.
" Everest used to make pressure vessels, heat exchangers, work for rockets, low temperature vessels among many other items.
Father used say that it should be possible to make a ship in a hut. Any non standard job was done under his tutelage. It was per international codes. More than 2000 people worked in Everest. Father used to train all the employees and had programmes for them. Craftsmen trainees, diploma trainees, graduate trainees and management trainees were the various categories. Many entrepreneurs were created and many went on to become wealthy. The first auditor was N.R.Doraiswamy and the advocate was P.S.Srinivasan. We had a number of group ventures like Sirpi Bricks, Autosmith Industries, Alagar Industries, Blacksmith Construction Company and Bharat Blacksmiths Limited. He raised money through deposits those days. All the businesses were managed by graduates. Later on he stopped doing site jobs and took up challenging projects with PSUs. He was the heavy fabrication specialist of his times. Father was an excellent planner, he was a punctual disciplinarian and his work was backed by good foresight. He was born in the ' Magham ' star. The people who got in touch with him became entrepreneurs. He was a recipient of a number of awards, recognitions and medals all through his life.
He received them in the hands of President S.Radhakrishnan, Chief Ministers K.Kamaraj and M.G.Ramachandran.
The ' Udyog Patra ' Award was among the many honours. He never liked to lie to anyone and he believed in ' Satyam ' or ' Truth ' always. Father was a great ' Guru ', " smiled Manoharan while showing the old photos connected with Everest Engineering Works. The old black and white pictures are a testimony to the good work of Somu. This collection includes several pictures of ' work in progress ' which later became the ' autographs ' of Coimbatore, the city of techcellence.
" He used to say that he has seen many ' Poos ' - Karuppoo ( black ), Inippoo ( sweet ), Natpoo ( friendship ), Veruppoo ( hatred ), Kasappoo ( bitter ) but he liked ' Uzhaipoo '. Hard work or ' Uzhaippo ' was his favourite ' Poo ' ( Flower in Tamil ). Once upon a time he had been on a world tour. All the top PSU Chairpersons and industrialists were very well known to him. The ladies of the entrepreneurial families used to tell their men folk to give the job to him for they had seen his good work with kitchen items, grills and gates. Many gates for the Elgi, PSG and other big bungalows were fabricated under his direction. G.K.Devarajulu and his wife Thayar Devarajulu were well known to him. During the inauguration of LMW, industrialist G.K.Sundaram spoke that Everest was above German standard, " stated Manoharan and his wife Vasantha Manoharan ( daughter of the eminent diamond setter Brahmaiyachar ).
Everest Somasundaram, the ' Ironman ' of Coimbatore had enjoyed his journey from the ' Iron Age ' to ' Space Age " over a span of nine decades and his ' centenary ' is around the corner. Everest Somasundaram is part of the never empty quiver of Coimbatore called ' daring entrepreneurship.'