RIP, the Man of Laboriousness and Success

Undoubtedly his company's the No 1 dealer in India selling home appliances and we can’t easily point out someone who sustains the top rank continually and firmly for the last 35-40 years and it’s impossible without laboriousness.  Vasanth & Co is the brand name created by H Vasanthakumar (a member of parliament) who himself was the ambassador of the company and products he sold and he continued to taste the success in the competitive world even after the arrival of online shopping.  He’s someone who earned people’s trust in selling quality products, because people don’t trust anybody easily unless there's some truth and we have personally experienced it and as a regular customer we’re proud and content with any of the products bought from him. More than half the appliances that exist at our home are bought from Vasanth & Co and my first choice still to pick a product rather than online could be his and I always recommend purchasing from the same.

It’s really shocking and sad to know the man behind the successful brand is no more - he died at the age of 70 due to Covid 19. He picked up his business as a seller of home appliances from door-to-door in instalments and later opened his own shop in the shopping centre – T. Nagar, where our first television was bought. In 1984, a year before I was born, my parents bought a black and white Solidaire TV from him and he had enquired them about their income and the ability to pay the install amount, with personal care. My parents had mentioned this many times to us, and now watching his news of demise couldn’t stop them repeating the same. Should I need to mention anything more, how could he have come up this long (with 80+ showrooms across south India) without the concern and care about the consumers and supply of quality things? And he hasn't stopped there, rather chosen the field of politics or public life to serve the poor and simple people, as he himself comes from the same he understands the people's need and did what he could from his source of income and the posts he held as a Member of Legislative Assembly and Member of Parliament.

He chose Congress as his political party following his father and elder brother – Kumari Anandan, a veteran congress leader – and he shone well in the state politics and held office of working President and Vice-President and the Chairman of the Traders wing of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. Upon everything, it is his laboriousness that put him on all these chairs and what everyone would admire him as an entrepreneur and his life is a good lesson to read by anyone to reach various heights. And like a gem on his crown he has written three volumes of his autobiographical book series Vetri Padikattu (Ladder to Success) focusing on his entrepreneurial success and community building initiatives which I really want to read sometime. He’s such a simple and humble being lived to easily access is what everyone close to him says and he is a familiar face of Tamil Nadu and never a day passes without seeing his smiley face on television. Though it's all for the business, his reach and popularity at the homes of Tamil Nadu is not easy to dismiss. People will miss him but not his face.