JEEVA

“Divyam”, the small house near the Bay of Bengal sea shore at Rameshwaram, stood utterly calm, free from the sounds and embroilment of roaring waves from the sea. Little Jeeva , 3 years old was singing and playing in the backyard of the house. He loved to pat the chicks and hens and give frequent hugs to the soft and small bushy tree. The little boy indulged in entertaining himself every now and then, by singing some village folk lores in broken tamil with his babbles, which sounded like a symphony music playing in the background.

"Chinnu - Jeeva. Run and come to me. I have made some crispy vadas for you" the wrinkled Yellamma, the great grand- mother of Jeeva was calling the little one from the pitch of her squeaky voice.
Rolling out his enormous eyes and clutching to few marbles in his tiny hands, he walked in slow motion towards Yellamma. He was managing to talk at a stretch to her with his newly learnt tamil words, and was displaying heroic victory.

The clay cladded legs and messy shirt, full of mud, was a sight to understand all about the naughty little Jeeva. He loved playing at the backyard of their house, where exotic fragrance emanated from the flower plants clustered with colourful flowers and bright roses, which were popping from the row of rose plants. The perpetual fragrance can set anyone’s sullen mood to exhilaration. This beautiful flower garden engulfed half of the back yard space.

Jeeva, oblivious of his parent’s demise due to cyclone, was getting more attached to his Yellamma. His father Nandu was a fisherman and his mother Jaanu was a simple devoted wife. Together they used to start their day towards seashore. While Nandu engaged in fishing, Jaanu used to assist her husband at the sea shore, by collectiing the fishes and selling them at the market place.

Jeeva's grandmother Subbu and grandfather Shiva were at Madurai running a small grocery shop. But Yellamma, the mother of Subbu was attached to Jaanu and she chose to stay with her at Rameshwaram. She used to take care of the household and the naughty little Jeeva. Yellamma was everything for Jaanu, Nandu and Jeeva. One fateful day when the heavy cyclone hit the shores of Rameshwaram, both Nandu and Jaanu were caught in the swirls of high current waves, never to return.

Yellamma decided to settle down at Rameshwaram and Jeeva was happy to stay with his Yellamma, as he loved her.
He grew up to be a kind hearted child and started going to government school, where the cost of education was cheap, since Yellamma could not afford convent education.
Jeeva, Raju, Vinay, Subran and Chintan became good friends at school. They used to play kabbadi, cricket and football. Jeeva was always a loser, as he could never pick up the nuances of any game.
One day Chintan screamed " Hey Jeeva you are good for nothing chap. You can't play any game with passion. It's a waste playing with you". Thereafter, the boys started ignoring Jeeva, and eliminated Jeeva from all the games. However, this did not deter Jeeva from seeking their company. His innocent smiles and simple composure was his winning edge with them. As he excelled in studies, his friends were at his mercy, perpetually seeking his guidance. He had an intuitive intelligent mind and was good at creating something or the other. He became the favourite child to all the teachers at school.
When he turned thirteen, Yellamma left to heavenly abode and he was compelled to move to Madurai where his grandparents were dwelling. He joined a government school again and did extremely well in his academics.
Life was not kind to him and he lost his grandfather Shiva to jaundice. He along with his grandmother Subbu shifted to Erode to his uncle's place after disposing their ancestral property at Rameswaram.
Due to monetary constraints, his education to pursue a degree took a toll. He was allowed to complete his education up to diploma level in civil engineering with great difficulty and his uncle never motivated or encouraged Jeeva, to pursue his education further.
He was made to work in the fields by his uncle who owned turmeric plantation.
Jeeva's uncle Muthappa owned fertile land at the foot of Chenni Malai, Erode. The beautiful Chenni hills, the surprising dances of peacock at the foot of chenni hills, the soil rich paddy fields, the small creeks running with sweet water, the lush green grass, the long sturdy trees and the turmeric plantation amidst this environment looked breathtakingly beautiful. It was a cynosure to the eyes of every human species on earth and captured the attention of every passerby.
Drowned in the field of agriculture, Jeeva started realising that he was going

no-where, as all the earnings were going to his uncle Muthappa and he was just a honourable labourer, working without wages or salary..

Things were getting insipid for Jeeva and at this juncture, he lost his grandmother Subbu. He was treated like a slave by his uncle. Unable to put up with his uncle, he severed his ties with him and moved to Karur, the home textile city, for his livelihood with a meagre amount of Rs.1000/- .
He was just 25 years, when he came to Karur. He knew no one. He joined a bed-sheet manufacturing unit on daily wages and intelligently started learning the tricks of the trade. He was getting a sum of Rs.10000/- as salary per month. He worked in all shifts and initiated to take keen interest in procurement of raw materials for the textile unit. On acquiring immense confidence he quit the job and started his own business at the age of 27.

He did a avid search for competitive procurement of raw cotton and visited places like Rajasthan, Murshidabad - West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar pradesh, Haryana etc. He practiced speaking Hindi, Telugu by taking crash courses.
With his strenuous effort he turned out to be a major raw cotton supplier to textile industries based at Karur, Erode, Tirupur etc. He negotiated a best bargain for the raw cotton with textile units and enjoyed a monopoly in his business. It took nearly 6 months to develop himself as an ace businessman. With a meagre investment of few thousands, he touched a turnover in lakhs within a span of 2 years.
He turned 28 and was strikingly handsome. He fell in love with Shwetha who had lucid eyes and long tresses. She had a beautiful slender physique and hailed from an ordinary poor family. Her father was a worker in textile unit. Jeeva tied the wedding knot and the cupid worked and blessed them with twins, the two lovely children, a boy and a girl, Senthil and Srija.The flow of his life was peaceful and happy.

One day sitting in a garden bench, Jeeva was lost in his thoughts. “Oh! Jeeva. How long it is since I met you. You have turned your life from a barren garden to flower garden, like the sweet little garden of your Rameswaram house”. Hearing a familiar voice he turned to see his school day’s friend Chintan, coming towards him. At the sight of Chintan, the childhood innocent memories flooded like un-stoppable flowing water. Jeeva gave a friendly hug to him and shared his success story. He gave him galore of gifts and made him the sales manager of his business firm.
Jeeva didn't stop here. He ventured with textile machineries which were priced quite high in south India. The textile units were at the mercy of importing the machinery, or purchase them at higher rates from Maharashtra and Gujarat.

He decided to start the manufacturing plant of textile machineries. He went to Germany, underwent training for a year and learnt the assembling of the machinery. He travelled to China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and skilled himself with the production of these machineries. At Surat in Gujarat, he worked with the machinery manufacturing unit for few months and learnt the trick of procuring various parts of the textile machinery from a wholesale market and engaged in mastering its assembly to suit the domestic usage.

He installed the manufacturing unit and started manufacturing these textile machineries. These were supplied at half the price in the market. He became a great businessman and built a huge factory. Chintan ultimately became the production manager at his factory and the two friends traversed their life journey together.
Yes, this is the success story about Jeeva and he did not stop here.

He identified his struggling family members and provided skill learning and job at his factory. Today he is standing tall with pride and generosity, by providing employment to hundreds of poor families. He is facilitating education to some handicapped children and providing shelter to homeless orphans.
Jeeva a life example, so apt to his name, is a trend setter who has carved a niche for himself and standing as an iconic personality to many aspirants. He is not only a successful businessman but also a philanthropist, living a simple life filled with love and peace.