EJJI'S ARTICLES 3
REMINISCENCE OF EDWARD ELLIOTS ROAD
"I was born on EE Road and grew up there. I learnt to cycle, ride a mobike, drive a car, date girls, smoke a cigarette, have a drink, have my first kiss, make love on the backseat of a car parked on a dark side lane, all on this road! I remember that the road was much lower than our garden level at our ancestral home "Nandana", bang opposite Nilgiri Department Stores. In a whole day, you could see a few cars go by, usually after 5 pm towards the Beach, and we could spot the who's who of Madras in these cars. On some days we had more funerals going towards the burial ground near the Buckingham Canal than cars! No honking, not because we are a sensible nation, but there was no need to honk! We only honked the "One-Two-Cha-Cha-Cha" tune on bikes and cars to announce our passing the house of our girl friends! During the month of February, Nungambakkam High Road, Cathedral Road, EE Road up to Marina was the testing track and show off space for the bikes and cars we were preparing to race at the Sholavaram Air Field over the 2nd weekend. You could hear the Mylapore Chit Fund Office bell ring twice a day. You could from your terrace watch the anti-aircraft guns practice of the Indian Army, targeting a balloon towed by an ancient Dakota aircraft over the Bay of Bengal. Milkmen and grazers used to herd their cattle on this road. There were huge trees on both sides of the road. So cutting down of these trees to widen roads is a natural thing. Again, when trees were planted many years ago, who could have envisaged the future growth. Where we have failed is may be to replenish the cut trees with new ones. When you can transplant a huge tree scientifically these days, that may be is a lacuna that could have been filled. Large bungalows of the rich and famous were there on huge plots of land with gardens and drive ways, the most impressive being the homes of S.Ananatharamakrishnan (Sudharma), Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (Girija) and S.S. Vasan (Gemini House). The tram shed was on this road at the junction of Royapettah High Road. Yes! It has changed. But, I cannot decry the change that had to happen or has happened. I cannot call it decay. One must allow the world to move on and to grow. If the world remained static, we will not progress. So, no regrets on the change of EE Road into a commercial thoroughfare with a new name. All in all to me EE Road was, and is, a memorable landmark in my mind's eye."
MEMOIRS OF A GARBAGE MAN
Here is something I wrote for the Chennai Boat Club Area Walkers page in FB.
Hello and Good Morning!
I am not a regular walker on the roads of Boat Club Area, but usually do walk whenever I come to The Madras Boat Club, where I have been a member since 1975. Going through the list of your members, I do happen to know quite a few.
The reason I joined your group is that I have fond memories of how I started my working life back in 1969. Boat Club Area and its roads have a large role to play!
Being unemployed, or perhaps unemployable, I had asked C.D.Gopinath (Gordon Woodroffe), who lived in the Boat Club Area for a job. He offered me the job of collecting garbage from all the houses in the area in a hand pulled cart, and dumping it in large pits in an open corner plot on First Avenue. CDG took me to meet the late M.M.Muthiah who was living on Boat Club Road, a stone's throw away from where C.D.Gopinath's house was. M.M.Muthiah personally handed over the cart to me.
I had an assistant Pakkiriswamy. We both pulled the cart from house to house through the five roads, once early in the morning and again once early in the evening. We were paid a princely sum of Rs 250-00 to start with. Of course, there was no Exnora, Onyx and the concept of contracted garbage collection and disposal was not known those days.
There were not many houses in the Boat Club Area, and certainly no high rises. All the buildings were in large compounds. There were quite a few vacant plots. I remember Chakravarti of Citibank, K.P. Misra of ICI, R.J. Shahaney of Ashok Leyland, Vishnu Mohan of Gordon Woodroffe and many other big names were residents of that area. Companies like ITC, Binny, TI Group and many big commercial and industrial houses owned properties here.
I used to collect garbage and waste from The Madras Club also. Vijayan of Avery’s was the Secretary of The Madras Club at that time. One day he stopped me on the road and asked me if the club should pay me for collecting the garbage. I said, no, I was being paid by C.D.Gopinath. He asked me to collect Rs.100 every month from him as the payment from The Madras Club. I thanked him profusely for his generosity as that money was nearly 50% of what I was getting.
Time passed. I went into business by starting Ejji Domestic Services in 1971. The company had electricians plumbers, carpenters, motor/pump/water heater/bore well mechanics, whose services were available to anyone in Madras. It was the first of its kind in India. Here again C.D.Gopinath was the first to use my services. In 1972, I started Ejji Maintenance Contracts, which was again India’s first contracted housekeeping service for offices and industrial establishments. Again, thanks to C.D. Gopinath, Gordon Woodroffe gave me my first office housekeeping contract. (Read more about the businesses on my web sitewww.ejji.4t.com).
In course of time, nearly every house in the Adyar Property Holding Company’s Boat Club Area, including a few private houses on Adyar Club Gate Road and Satyanarayana Avenue were my clients for technical maintenance of their houses! That included The Madras Boat Club and The Madras Club too. (There was no Alumni Club then!) Some of these companies even used my services in other buildings in Madras that housed their offices, guest houses and executives. Soon, the popularity of my services grew and Ejji Services became a household name.
Years later, when I had started doing international car rallies, and I was known as a car rally driver, I participated in one of the biggest car rallies ever run, the India Asean Car Rally 2004. The total distance driven was 8000 km plus, from Guwahati, India, through Myanmar, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (PDR), Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand (twice), Malaysia, Singapore and ended in Batam, Indonesia. It was an event that attracted attention all over the world.
After the rally, I was asked to speak to the members of The Madras Club and do a presentation of the rally highlights. I told S. Muthiah of Madras Musings my story of collecting garbage from The Madras Club years ago. When he had to introduce me to the audience, he said, “This is the first time in the history of The Madras Club, that the garbage collector of the club will address the members!" And, sitting in the audience and smiling was C.D. Gopinath.
Anyway, I quit business life in 1991, as I wanted to work only for 20 years. But that’s a story for another day. I must acknowledge that all this started in The Boat Club Area with a hand cart and garbage! As Johnnie Walker says, “Keep walking”………….. and, let it always be in The Boat Club Area. Memories of another day!
FROM A GARBAGE MAN TO A SYBARITE. CELEBRATION OF A WONDERFUL JOURNEY CALLED “LIFE AFTER THE RAT RACE” THAT I LIVED ON MY OWN TERMS.
This post is dedicated to all my male friends, lady friends, girl friends (past and present), undecided/unidentified gender friends, critics, enemies, those still undecided to be my friend or enemy, those whose envy and jealousy were enhanced by me, those who stabbed me behind my back, and those I have not yet met or known but who happened to pass by my life unnoticed, and of course all those who helped me to become what I am today.
Today is 31st July, 2016. Memorable date. I walked out of the office of “EJJI MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS” & “EJJI DOMESTIC SERVICES” on the 31st of July 1991. While “EJJI MAINTENANCE SERVICES” (India’s first janitorial and contract cleaning services company) was closed on that date, my partner Bhamini Shankar, ran “EJJI DOMESTIC SERVICES”, (a copy of the now defunct website is available on http://www.angelfire.com/un/ejjidomesticservices/ ) closed it for good on October31, 2005, that being her 20th year of working for a living. (This was an on call, mobile, technical services company for breakdowns and maintenance of buildings, with plumbers, electricians, carpenters, bore well, water heater, motor/ pump mechanics who were our full time employees- we were not an agency.) We coined the nomenclature “Domestic Services” which is now an accepted generic phrase. Many thought we were mad. (May be!) Others wondered why we did not sell the companies. (We know why!) We believe that India is a land of opportunity with no takers. There is no unemployment in India. Only unwillingness to be employed and a large population of unemployable Indians!
I had started the businesses on the 31st of July 1971, with the singular aim of being the pioneer of janitorial and building repair services in India, and to earn a living for exactly 365 x 20 days. I achieved it, not a day too early, not a day too late. It was spot on! And on this same date, 31st July, in 1991, I started using a calling card that mentioned my profession as “Rat Race Runner (Retd.)”. (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B455eQeWCAfUQThYenMtY0ZBSjg) My friend Avis Viswanathan commented, “Though you have left the rat race, Ejji you still remain a rat!” (http://avisviswanathan.blogspot.in/2014/04/it-is-sinful-to-waste-life-by-merely.html ) One lady in Turkey asked me when I was in training for Formula One management, if I was racing rats in India! I slowly graduated to using a calling card that many found needed a dictionary to decipher my occupation and phone number! https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B455eQeWCAfUc3RlTUdVQmt2V1U
Before I started the business, I am proud to have been a person who had never attended a full day’s class in school or college. I worked as a garbage collector in the Boat Club Area (http://www.mediafire.com/file/tqfbqpe6rkjsptl/Boat_Club_Article.docx/file ), as a toilet cleaner, was graduated to toilet supervisor, then to housekeeping supervisor, ending up as housekeeping and maintenance contractor in Safire Theater. The family of Veecumsee, formed the foundation of my business life. There were many others who helped me in my growth. Take a look at https://ejji6t.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/ejjis-22222-living-days-party/ to know who they are.
This is my life’s theme song. Take a view. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SXWX6qg0y4
Given half a chance, I would love to relive my life with warts, faults, mistakes and all, but surely made richer by the presence and interaction with each one of you. Thank you for being part of my life. Variety might be said to be the spice of life. But each one of you has made my life spicier and juicier. What a wonderful journey it’s been.
Let me have your opinions and comments to this post either on FB or on my mail id. Rotten tomatoes and addled eggs welcome! Thanks once again!
SPEECH DELIVERED AT
THE "BANGALORE ORTHOPAEDIC SOCIETY CONFERENCE" (BOSCON)
IN BANGALORE, ON MARCH 31, 2019.
Good Afternoon. This session is to share my thoughts and also learn from you. I do not call it a talk. I am given 15 minutes. I will take 10. The last 5 are yours. You are free to ask me any question. I will try my best to answer them. My opinions are my own and need not be acceptable to many.
I am from English Theater, The Madras Players. We always wish actors before a performance with the words, “BREAK A LEG”. Very inappropriate greeting here!!!!
DRIVE AWAY FROM YOURSELF. Away from tension, drab routine, the rat race, and the three usual problems that make most people ‘exist’ and not ‘live’- family problems, finance problems, legal problems. These three according to m, are worse killers than cholesterol, diabetes and cardiac malfunction put together.
It is a myth when anyone says, I do not have the time. Most times, it is fashionable to say so. Everybody can make time for themselves. Again, according to me, their priority list is wrongly numbered.
There is one problem though. All over the world, people with time don’t have money, and people with money don’t have time. To do drives, time and money must be in sync, standing on a strong foundation of the desire to be on the road.
So, what are the benefits of drives, be they solo, group or convoy.
SOLO DRIVES:
- SPENDING TIME ALONE IS JUST AS FUN AS BEING WITH FRIENDS.
- YOU'LL COME UP WITH YOUR BEST IDEAS.
- IT WILL CLEAR YOUR MIND.
- IT WILL IMPROVE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS.
- IT IS THE ULTIMATE CURE FOR BOREDOM.
- YOU'RE IN CONTROL.
- YOU CAN GO AS FAR AS THE ROAD WILL TAKE YOU.
LONG DRIVES:
- DISCOVER THE UNEXPECTED
- RE-ENERGISE, RECHARGE, REFRESH
- GET TO KNOW YOUR FAMLY OR FRIENDS AS TRAVEL COMPANIONS
- OPEN YOUR MIND TO OTHER WAYS OF LIFE & TRAVEL
- BUILD A LIBRARY OF GREAT STORIES
- TRY NEW THINGS
- GET INSPIRED Y THE WONDERS OF NATURE
PILOTED CONVOYS:
EASY TO DO THIS, AS ALL THE DIRTY WORK WILL BE DONE BY THE LEAD PILOT VEHICLE
ORDERLY CONVOY DRIVE AS PER CONVOY NUMBERS
RADIOS FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IN ALL VEHICLES
SWEEPER VEHICLE WILL BE THE LAST VEHICLE. SO NO ONE WILL BE LEFT BEHIND OR LOST
TRAINS YOU TO BE MORE DISCIPLNED AND TAKE ORDERS
EVERYONE IN THE CONVOY IS EQUAL
SOCIAL GRACES GET ENHANCED, AS INDIVIDUALS DO NOT EXIST- EVERYTHING IS A GROUP EXERCISE.
RULES OF DRIVES:
Have like-minded persons with you in the vehicle.
Breathe deep and listen to calming music
Make the car as calm a place as possible
Avoid touchy topics- personal comments, religion and politics
Never talk about “scary or crazy driving and accidents” when you are driving the car
Make any choice based on an instant vote among yourselves. No unilateral decisions
Never be a back seat driver
Most common cause of accidents worldwide
Driver fatigue is the biggest cause of road accidents worldwide. Don’t drive when tired.
Distracted driving, even before mobile phones were invented!
Speeding. You've seen them on the highways
Drunk Driving.
Reckless Driving.
Rain. Use Amber vision or light enhancing glasses during rain, haze, mist, dusk and dawn.
Running Red Lights
Teenage Drivers
Shift workers
Drivers with sleep disorders
ACCIDENT PREVENTION ACCESSORIES:
Rest recommendation system
Driver drowsiness detection
Lane change warning system
Collision prevention warning system
All done by built in sensors
PRESENT DRIVE SCENERIO:
Drives such as Bangalore to Mysore, Chennai to Kodaikanal, Delhi to Leh, Mumbai to Mahabaleshwar are all passé and meant for kindergarten kids. The flavor of the season are international drives. Many are not aware that you can drive from Lalit Ashok to Tokyo, London or Moscow. You need to plan it in advance. Paper work is clean and efficient. The ASEAN HIGHWAY NETWORK is in place. That is why the highways are no more numbered NH or SH even in India. You will see boards that say AH. The Chennai Bangalore highway NH 48 is now AH 45 !!! That is part of the Asian Highway Network. It extends like a well knitted net from St. Petersburg in the north to Bali in the South, and from Istanbul in the west to Tokyo in the east. The prestigious number AH 1 passes through India and India has the highest length of AH roads in the world.
The Asian Highway 1 from Guwahati, Assam, to Bangkok, Thailand, through Yangon, Myanmar, is today like MG Road Bangalore. Innumerable Indian vehicles and motorbikes on the highway.
FINISH
Do be in touch with me. Join me for long international drives. Our organization JAIHO is run by five passionate motor sport enthusiasts. Our drives are actual costs equally divided by all participants, non profit, non commercial drives, which are nearly 75% cheaper than commercial drives. All vehicles are SUVs owned by us in Moscow. Our next drive is Moscow to London through Scandinavia and Europe; and the return drive from London is through Europe and Baltic countries.
And before I sign off, my advice to those who drive with a girl friend or boy friend, never drive with one hand. Stop the car. Use both.
Drive safe. Enjoy motor sports. Have a great day.