kt srinivasa raja – The Commune https://thecommunemag.com Mainstreaming Alternate Sun, 22 Oct 2023 07:34:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 https://thecommunemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/cropped-TC_SF-1-32x32.jpg kt srinivasa raja – The Commune https://thecommunemag.com 32 32 Narikuravar Man Denied Entry Into A2B Hotel Whose Owner Had Glorified EVR For “Opening Up” Hotel Industries To All Castes https://thecommunemag.com/narikuravar-man-denied-entry-into-a2b-hotel-whose-owner-had-glorified-evr-for-opening-up-hotel-industries-to-all-castes/ Sun, 22 Oct 2023 07:34:02 +0000 https://thecommunemag.com/?p=62705 A2B (Adyar Ananda Bhavan) finds itself embroiled in one controversy after another after its owner KT Srinivasa Raja glorified controversial Dravidian ideologue E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his followers), who is known for his vicious hatred towards Hindus and Hindu Gods and had even called for the genocide of Tamil Brahmin community. Film […]

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A2B (Adyar Ananda Bhavan) finds itself embroiled in one controversy after another after its owner KT Srinivasa Raja glorified controversial Dravidian ideologue E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his followers), who is known for his vicious hatred towards Hindus and Hindu Gods and had even called for the genocide of Tamil Brahmin community.

Film personality-turned-YouTuber Chitra Lakshmanan had interviewed Managing Director of Adyar Ananda Bhavan KT Srinivasa Raja.

In the interview Chitra Lakshmanan asks, “At one point in time, the hotel industry especially the restaurants especially vegetarian ones were run by Iyers and then it started changing, what do you think is the reason for it?” to which the Adyar Ananda Bhavan owner replied “Anyone can do anything – the main reason for this change is Thanthai Periyar. He is the one who brought change to the hereditary profession (kulathozhil). Anyone can do any job/take up any profession. Times were changing, governments were providing loans and banks also supported people. A profession that was done by a particular community is now being done by anyone and everyone. It’s like anyone can go to the sea and fish.”

This comment of the A2B owner glorifying EVR who had spewed venom on Hindus and Hindu Gods did not go well with many calling for the outlet’s boycott.

https://twitter.com/Devi_Uvacha/status/1715406285707825194

In light of this controversy, an incident has come to light that has made people to call out the virtue-signaling of the A2B owner.

Tamil Facebook channel PoliTalks had embarked on an attempt to do a vlog for their channel when they spotted a poor Narikuravar (Scheduled Tribe) man trying to make ends meet for a meal. One of the person from PoliTalks, Vignesh Vasudev, had gone to the poor man and offered to get him food and a sweet box since it was Navratri. Incidentally, they went to the Adyar Ananda Bhavan outlet at Anna Nagar, Chennai. Apparently, the Narikuravar man refrained himself from coming into the hotel and stood hesitantly at a corner. While Vignesh managed to assure the Narikuravar man that he would be with him and convinced him to enter the hotel, he was stopped by the staff of the A2B outlet.

“As soon as they saw him entering the hotel, A2B staff told him in a threatening tone to stay outside and take whatever was given to him“, Vignesh explained in a video.

Vignesh apparently pitched in and told the A2B staff that he only brought him along to get him a sweet box and said that he won’t bother anyone by sitting inside.

To Vignesh’s appeal, the A2B staff claimed that “not everybody can enter inside” the A2B hotel.

Allegedly, the threatening and rude behaviour of the staff made the Narikuravar man feel vexed. He was about to leave the place without having food or taking anything with him. Despite Vignesh trying to convince him to have lunch with him inside, he felt unwelcomed and was hesitant to climb up the stairs and come to the dining area.

“This is not the stairs of any temple. It is the stairs of a hotel whose owner speaks of ‘Periyarism.‘”, Vignesh said in the video.

“A shop owned by a person who speaks about social justice, seems to be stuck 150 years ago. Treating a fellow human being as an equal is only social justice isn’t it? Or is social justice all about singing paeans about Periyar in front of camera?“, Vignesh asked in the video.

Many on social media have shared this expose by PoliTalks lambasting the A2B owner for not practicing what he preaches.

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]]> Democratization Of TN Hotel Industry Happened Not Because Of EVR But Because Of LPG https://thecommunemag.com/democratization-of-tn-hotel-industry-happened-not-because-of-evr-but-because-of-lpg/ Sat, 21 Oct 2023 13:06:41 +0000 https://thecommunemag.com/?p=62675 It was considered a sin for Hindus to sell food till 20th century. The tradition of Annadhanam, the practice of providing free food to the hungry, was deeply rooted in Hindu culture for centuries. Annadhanam was done by charities and the affluent took care of the hungry and the tired. Several people with dharmic mindset hoisted […]

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It was considered a sin for Hindus to sell food till 20th century. The tradition of Annadhanam, the practice of providing free food to the hungry, was deeply rooted in Hindu culture for centuries. Annadhanam was done by charities and the affluent took care of the hungry and the tired. Several people with dharmic mindset hoisted Anna Kodi at their homes and did Annadhanam every day. My great great grandfather home at Cheranmahadevi in Tirunelveli district hoisted one such flag for centuries till his death.

With British dismantling our systems, many charities crumbled and so did the habit of annadhanam. With people travelling inter city becoming frequent and with the charities crumbling, hotels both for eating and lodging emerged in the beginning of 20th century. A new concept.

Bus stand hotels emerged. A small hotel serving food at very low price either sitting on the floor or old bench and stool was the norm then. Along with such hotels, IRR hotels or the canteens at Railway stations too emerged serving high quality food at very affordable prices. Old timers still recall Chandra Vilas franchisees at Railway stations of Southern Railway and many iconic IRRs at popular railway junctions like Shoranur, Waltair, Guntakal, Vizhupuram.

Yes, most vegetarian hotels were run by Brahmins as pointed out by the A2B owner KT Srinivasa Raja. No denial of fact. They were the first movers. Many took up the profession just to come out of poverty. Unlike the other so-called “forward castes” who had the luxury of owning lands, Brahmins did not have that luxury. With no patronage from government, poor Brahmins fell back on cooking, serving and table cleaning to support their families. Hotel industry was a low margin business then as charging high was a sin. One has to slog 24*7 in the kitchen breathing smoke unlike hotel owners travelling in Benz now.

This story continued for decades till 1980s. The industry remained unattractive that none bothered to start a hotel to slog in coal and smoke dust. You can see the ambience of such old hotels to this day. Dark like a dungeon but the food is heaven.

There is an eatery called Hotel Sri Ganapathy Vilas located along the Chennai-Trichy highway in Acharappakkam. That hotel is a living testimony to the point that I am making here. It was started in 1963. You get transported back to that period once you enter the hotel. Such is the ambience which is very modest. The price of the food too is modest. Their eatery sees good business through word-of-mouth even to this day. Foodies can checkout the hotel here.

Anybody who has eaten at Madura Lodge in Trichy or Chandra Vilas in Tirunelveli can also relate to the point being made.

Then came the era of LPG – Liberalization, Privatization, Globalization. Prosperity zoomed and people’s buying power increased dramatically. There were takers for a 50 paisa idly sold at ₹5. There were takers for posh ambience too. Show the ambience and extract consumer premium, that became the mantra of for the new hotels emerging.

Margins expanded from 5% to 80% with the ability to extract consumer surplus – What was an undesirable biz became sexy with everyone jumping in and making it big. Rest is history.

This is the actual story.

It is sad to see the rich entrepreneur dragging EVR into this and portraying as though Brahmins prevented others and monopolized. He himself acknowledges his dad learnt the art of cooking from a Brahmin and it was well known that the other big chain Hotel Saravana Bhavan too had a Brahmin working partner.

That being the case, attributing this to EVR (hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his followers) and bringing kulathozhil (hereditary profession) angle and vilifying Brahmins is uncalled for!

(Nanmozhian is an entrepreneur based out of Chennai.)

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