CHAPTER III PROFILE OF THE STUDY UNITS 3.

1 RMKV: RmKV Silks was begun as a saree shop in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, in 1924 by Rm. K. Visvanatha Pillai, dealing mainly in silk Kanchipuram sarees. After the death of his son V.Kumaraswamy, who led RmKV from 1955 to 1988, the family concern was modernised and expanded by his grandsons K.Viswanathan and K.Sivakumar.RMKV is a Chennai based saree brand and the retail outlet holds a well-worked-out brand position for purchasing sarees in Tamilnadu. It is one of the most reputed retailing companies producing its trendy, unique silk and wedding silk sarees. Their silk sarees are not only keen on young consumers, but are also eager to woo young women weavers into the industry. With loads of showrooms scattered all over Chennai, it is also a finest destination for the people to buy the family merchandise.

The company, since its inception has been one of the ultimate destinations for the finest Arani and Kanjipuram silks made to order sarees, kids collection, mens wear, ghagras, salwars, poly silks, poly cotton, chiffon, crepe and theme collection. At present, RMKV has established an innovative idea of sarees which has more than 50,000 colors and claims that this is the earliest saree across the world having an assortment of shades and colors.

3.2 Evolution of RMKV: RMKV was established in the year of 1924 by Mr. Rm. K. Visvanatha Pillai. Over more than 80 years of experience in the silk sarees, the company is well-known for its quality products, new techniques and innovative designs in the handloom weaving of silk. The vision

of RMKV is followed by Mr. Rm. K. Sivakumar. The design studio of RMKV has created various notable theme sarees like Kural Ovium, Aishwarya Pookkal, Durbar Krishna and Chinnanchiru Kiliye. It is an ultimate showroom of textile, located at the Tirunelveli and Chennai.

3.3 Achievements & Awards: RMKV won two National Awards for its innovative designs, new techniques of handloom weaving and quality products. The company is the first manufacturer of saree silk company certified ISO 90012000 in India. The company created a buzz about the conventional Kanchipuram Sarees by setting up a Guinness Book Record in 2004, for making longest silk saree. RMKV came up with another Record for a special check-patterned saree with more than 50,000 colors woven to it. Mr.K.SivaKumar and Mr.S.Rajendran of RmKV have got National Award for Master Weavers and Master Craft persons in 1998. Mr.K.Viswanathan and Mr.S.Dinakaran of RmKV have got National Award for Master Weavers and Master Craft persons in 1999.

3.4 Motivational schemes: RmKV provides customer BONUS rewards program, is yet another effort to give more delight to valuable customers. The loyalty card will enable the customers to earn shopping points which can be accumulated and redeemed against future purchases at any of our stores.

Moreover, it gives customers all possible denomination options for voucher purchase. These vouchers will be split into smaller denominations for convenience.

3.5 Innovations of RmKV:

RmKV Silks can be said to have begun the trend of innovation in the traditional field of silk sarees when they came out with a saree depicting, in woven silk and jari, the 33 Bharatanatyam dance poses for Subramanya Bharathi's song Chinnanchiru Kiliye. Since then RmKV has released about three dozen designer sarees, including Aiswarya Pookkal (National Award, 1998); Hamsa Damayanthi, based on the Raja Ravi Varma painting and modeled by then-unknown Deepika Padukone (National Award, 1999); Kural Ovium (depicting couplets from the Thirukkural); a line of textured "embossed silk" sarees; the reversible silk saree; a 50000-colour saree (modeled by Jyothika); sarees inspired by Op Art; natural-dye silk sarees; and light-silk sarees using patented methods. Conceptualization and design are performed at their studio in Tirunelveli and manufacturing at Arani, Tamil Nadu. Noted textile designer Subrata Bhowmick of the National Institute of Design was the consultant behind RmKV's Hamsa Damayanti saree and its subsequent advertising campaign A few years ago, the retailer tied up with the Central Silk Board to design a technology that automates pedaling of the handloom weaving machine. Pedaling with legs is a cumbersome task and puts pressure on the knee. So we introduced a technology where the weaver need not pedal and instead he or she can concentrate on the skilful part of the process alone, said Mr.K. Sivakumar, Managing Director of RmKV. The pedals in these pneumatic looms are pushed up with the help of an air pump mechanism. RmKV has converted 300 of its

400 manual looms into pneumatic handlooms at the weaving hub of Arani, Tamil Nadu. Over 500 weavers are working on these looms for RmKV.

3.6 Training for women: RmKV has trained 30 women weavers in this technology. In the textile industry women hesitate to take up weaving due to the physical strain. Now with the pneumatic looms, more women workers are eagerly weaving sarees. RmKV has showcased this technology to weavers outside its fold, too. The technology is fast picking up one now. The Tamil Nadu Government is also giving out subsidies for pneumatic looms, says a Central Silk Board official.

Morality last Priority One of the key things that kept bothering me during the recently held 2012 Kiddival at Tirunelveli is the question of morality exhibited by schools and partly played out by some of the participating parents.

RMKV and Rotary club of Tirunelveli have been conducting this show for the last 20+ years and kudos to them as they do a wonderful service of bringing out exceptional talents from small kids. These competitions are meant for students up to 5th class for various events. There are around 1200 student who participate in these events. There is an entire micro industry that has come up thanks to Kiddival these includes dance, musical classes etc. which hones the skills of the students. Parents and schools prepare their kids for the whole year for some of the stage performances. Surely the event helped evolve a process and competitiveness in the students community in Tirunelveli. Frankly I found it quite remarkable when we

participated in other districts like Madurai where students from Tirunelveli showed exceptional ability to sweep the merit position with relative ease.

Going back to my irritant as I stated in the beginning of the article. I was amazed that the school management bring in malpractices in such event too which otherwise can be a very healthy one. I dont have the exact data but I see a considerable number of participants are overage and are not eligible to participate. The school provides bonafide certificate for them and to meet any exigencies they even prepare duplicate ID card. So much for an event meant for kidsAt the risk of sounding very cynical let me emphasize that it should not be taken up lightly. In the process, what are we doing? We are training young impressionable minds of corrupt practices. We are letting them know if you want to achieve your goals means does not matter. Is morality meant only for preaching purposes? Of all the sections of the society can school be the first one to disregard moral values?

I was suggested by our well wishers to include elder students if we want to be in reckoning. Especially as we are new school it will help our cause for better admission for tomorrow. Logic was, in any case even if you dont, the system is not going to change and you dont get to score any browny points. Is that it? Is this the way we are going to conduct ourselves? At the drop of the hat are we going to compromise on our integrity? If you are going to train our kids to compromise at such insignificant levels what can be expected of you if there is a real interest in money or material terms. I am sure the answer is quite easy- dont bother choose the one which profits you.

POTHYS:

Pothys success story has a fairy tale ring to it. The house of Pothys was established 90 years ago by K.V. Pothy Moopanar under the name Pothy Moopanari to sell cotton sarees and dhotis woven in his own loom. The founding for fathers served as weavers to the royal households of the maharajas of yesteryears. With our in-house expertise, we soon brought innovation into an otherwise staid Kancheepuram saree market and opened our first showroom at Srivilliputtur.

With generations of experience in the silk trade behind us, we soon became highly successful and became the first retail showroom in Tamil Nadu to launch its own unique brand of silk sarees namely Samudrika, Parampara and Vastrakala accredited with ISO 9001 certification in 2003. From humble beginnings, Pothys has come a long way.

Acclaims Pothys passion for the craft of silk weaving regularly introduced new ideas and techniques which won us many awards and accolades. In 2002, Pothys was quoted as a leader in the textile and retail business in Tamil Nadu by SUN TV Neilson. Pothys desire to innovate and excel in silk manufacturing also won us the Guinness World Record in the year 2005 for creating the worlds longest silk saree. It is because of our continued hard work drawing inspiration from diverse symbols of Indias rich culture, that we have earned a reputation of having the most preferred saree showroom in Chennai.

What

we

have

There cannot be any variety of silk sarees that Pothys does not offer, ranging from exclusive designs to authentic silk brands. These silk brands stand apart for their richness in

silk, exclusivity in design, luxury, exquisite zari work and weaving artistry for that special look and feel.

sPainstakingly created, from initial conception to meticulous planning and final execution by our hand-picked artisans, our customers enjoy the ambience and comfort of sitting while making their selections.

Pothys Ayurveda College, Trivandrum

Gift voucher We understand gifting is a personal choice and we have to give our customers all possible denomination options for voucher purchase. However, customer experience is our number one priority....so we do NOT want your gift recipient to walk into this store and NOT find any gift to buy for amount lower than the denomination offered. We truly believe that you need to buy the voucher atleast for the minimum amount specified in order for your gift recipient to find the perfect gift of their choice in this store. Voucher will be split into smaller denominations for convenience.