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Dindigul R. Shunmugam Pillai

R.Shunmugam Pillai, a renowned industrialist, was known for his revolutionary invention, “ShunmugamAutomatic Roaster”. A brief history of his life reveals how he faced the ups and downs to emerge as one of the most successful entrepreneurs of Dindigul. His success story is a gripping one that will inspire budding entrepreneurs and promising youngsters.

Shunmugam Pillai was born on January 30th,1919in Ellapatti, a remote village near Dindigul. His father N.Ramu Pillai was a coolie and mother R.MarudhayeeAmmal was a housewife. He grew up with his elder brother R.Marimuthu Pillai. Having lost his parents at a very early age of seven, both were deprived of formal education. Owing to poverty, Marimuthu along with Shunmugam moved to Dindigul to seek better fortune. They worked in a puffed rice manufacturing unit for daily wages.

He married Parvathy Ammal '''of Palani at the age of nineteen. In 1941''', he set up his own unit that produced puffed rice as well as roasted grams. Roasting of grams and Pulses varieties was a laborious task that involved a large pool of manpower. The men who worked in these units suffered from lung disease because of the dust and smoke that was emitted. Consequently, the production was delayed and the output was reduced considerably. Shanmugam Pillai had the bitter experience of seeing his mother die after prolonged lung disease. He was in pain to see his co-workers suffering from the same deadly disease as his mother. It was this pain that led to his passion of inventing the machine that would aide in roasting grains, grams, and pulses. Hence, began the journey of his invention.

He set up a unit at Dindigul where he started experimenting with his ideas. In 1949, his thought process began to take shape through persistent research and steadily developed to devise an automatic machine. In the course of mechanizing and automating the entire process, hundreds of quintals of Bengal grams were completely burnt and tons of iron materials were discarded as scrap. Subsequently, his debts to Bengal gram and iron merchants developed grossly. During this period of trials and tribulations, the whole family was poverty-stricken. With his zealous spirit, his work gradually evolved into a full-fledged machine that outstood all the challenges and imperfections. After seven years of diligently fixing all the flaws with great commitment, in 1956 he succeeded with his invention.

It is highly fascinating to know about the principle with which his invention works. When processed Bengal grams are loaded at one end of the machine, it gets evenly roasted at optimum temperature and the end product is obtained at the other end which we call as ‘Roasted Grams’. The machine was highly productive in terms of the output, time consumption and labour-saving. The machine’s efficiency was extensively used to dry roast grams, pulses and grains. The machine operated with firewood and furnace oil until The Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited had approached him. The NLCL, knowing about his invention, came forward with its vast reserves of lignite asking him to replace furnace oil to operate the machine. Eventually, it turned out to be a successful venture. Lignite was cost-effective and also caused less pollution when compared to firewood and furnace oil.

In 1966, Shunmugam Pillai received the prestigious Presidential Award from the former Chief '''Minister Shri. Bhakthavatchalam''', a recognition by the Government of TamilNadu. In 1981, Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited highly commended his invention for which he received a certificate of appreciation from the former Chairman of NLCL, Shri.G.L.Tandon.He was also highly appreciated by the eminent leaders like '''Shri. Kamarajar and Shri.Annadurai'''. He acquired 13 years patent rights for his invention.

He proved to be triumphant in the field of agriculture too. He put forth the ground-breaking idea of transporting and replanting the trees on a different land that was totally uprooted during floods. Also, he did some experiments with farming in lands at the foot hills of Sirumalai (a small hill station 20 kms away from Dindigul) that was highly challenging. He was the first to adopt drip irrigation method in Dindigul District on lands that was considered to be unfit for farming and gained larger agricultural yields. This achievement was appreciated and interviewed for the programme ‘Vayalum Vaazhvum’ by '''Chennai Doordharshan. Thiruchirappalli All India Radio''' aired his achievements.

Shunmugam Pillai named his invention as “Shunmugam Automatic Roaster”. The unit where he initially conducted the research and development is the parent organization which is known as ’RS VarukadalaiMills’. His roasted gram factories branched out in Madurai and Kumbakonam in larger scales in 1962 & 1968 respectively. He was the pioneer in the wholesale and retail market of roasted grams. His automatic roasters were manufactured and marketed throughout India. He was also

the founder of ‘RS Kalai Kal’, a cement hollow block manufacturing industry. In 1980,he established ‘GomathLodge’, that offered high quality boarding and lodging facilities and a prominent landmark of Dindigul till date.

He was born into a very poor family in an undeveloped village with never a chance of attending school. His vivacity, untiring efforts and persistent vision secured him to be one of the most affluent businessmen in Dindigul. He was a man of virtues. His ideals and thoughts were always ahead of his times. He was an ardent traveller who loved visiting other states and countries. He used to work tirelessly irrespective of day and time to complete a set task. He was an amicable person who had lots of friends and well wishers. He was very compassionate towards animals and it is noteworthy that he built a temple for his beloved cow, Gomathi, inside his factory premises. He named his lodge after this cow. He was a happy and content person who loved being with his children and grand children. He passed away on August 2nd, 1988.

His automatic roaster machines have been exported to countries like Kenya, Dubai and Sri Lanka. His descendants are skillfully taking his goodwill and accomplishments to the next level not only through business but also through social and community service.