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Meet Radhakrishnan. He is a resident of Kuravankonam, Thiruvananthapuram. He is an interior designer of the highest order. He is neither an engineer nor an architect. He has undergone no course in interior designing.
Radhakrishnan is a Post Graduate in Botany. Soon after he finished his M.Sc he joined the State Bank of Travancore as Clerk cum Cashier. Those were days when jobs were hard to come by and you would hit the jackpot if you could come out successful in the tests to the post of a clerk either in the Government or in the bank. Radhakrishnan was brilliant and he managed to get through the tests.
He toiled hard for several years at different assignments before he was promoted to the Officer’s Cadre. While the Clerk in the Bank stays rooted to the place of his posting till superannuation, he is shunted all around the country the moment he is promoted. Radhakrishnan was posted to Edathua, a difficult centre for three years. Transfers were intermittent from then onwards. His wife was a teacher in a College under corporate management where she too was transferred on intervals. The family life was remarkable as the husband and the wife were at considerable distance from each other most of the time. Fed up with the job and the transfers he opted for Voluntary Retirement from Service (VRS) the moment it was extended to Officers in the banks.
VRS was an opportunity for the creative mind in Radhakrishnan. He started off with managing ‘Swiss Cafe’ for a while. Swiss Cafe offered excellent food and it was a highly successful venture. He was restive. He knew he was yet to realize his full potential. He turned to Interior Designing. He had ideas. He joined up with Mohammed Ali who provided the manpower.
Radhakrishnan began by designing the interior of his own house. Its completion made him confident and he started off in earnest. He has to his credit quite a number of houses where the owners are proud that their houses or apartments have unique features. His rates are much cheaper and he ensures that the individual who puts up a house is not fleeced.
Radahkrishnan adopts a holistic approach in his designs. He attends to the needs of the residents of the house. He does not leave out vacant spots anywhere. Modular kitchens, illuminated display shelves with mirror at the back, wall cup boards, wooden furniture or any thing that the owner desires to have, Radhakrishnan manages to locate it to the advantage of the residents. It is a challenge he accepts wholeheartedly.
It is creative people like Radhakrishnan who have made our country a better place to live. They are unknown and they prefer to remain unknown.
He toiled hard for several years at different assignments before he was promoted to the Officer’s Cadre. While the Clerk in the Bank stays rooted to the place of his posting till superannuation, he is shunted all around the country the moment he is promoted. Radhakrishnan was posted to Edathua, a difficult centre for three years. Transfers were intermittent from then onwards. His wife was a teacher in a College under corporate management where she too was transferred on intervals. The family life was remarkable as the husband and the wife were at considerable distance from each other most of the time. Fed up with the job and the transfers he opted for Voluntary Retirement from Service (VRS) the moment it was extended to Officers in the banks.
VRS was an opportunity for the creative mind in Radhakrishnan. He started off with managing ‘Swiss Cafe’ for a while. Swiss Cafe offered excellent food and it was a highly successful venture. He was restive. He knew he was yet to realize his full potential. He turned to Interior Designing. He had ideas. He joined up with Mohammed Ali who provided the manpower.
Radhakrishnan began by designing the interior of his own house. Its completion made him confident and he started off in earnest. He has to his credit quite a number of houses where the owners are proud that their houses or apartments have unique features. His rates are much cheaper and he ensures that the individual who puts up a house is not fleeced.
Radahkrishnan adopts a holistic approach in his designs. He attends to the needs of the residents of the house. He does not leave out vacant spots anywhere. Modular kitchens, illuminated display shelves with mirror at the back, wall cup boards, wooden furniture or any thing that the owner desires to have, Radhakrishnan manages to locate it to the advantage of the residents. It is a challenge he accepts wholeheartedly.
It is creative people like Radhakrishnan who have made our country a better place to live. They are unknown and they prefer to remain unknown.
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