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Making Madurai's PC World: Selvaraj

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DQW Bureau
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It may be a while since he practiced Karate but all the same, remember not to mess with Selvaraj. His school-boy passion for Karate might just resurface. Jokes apart, M Selvaraj, partner of PC World in Madurai, is a gentle soul, a hardworking businessman and a thorough family man. 

An out-an-out son of Madurai soil, Selvaraj was born in 1967. He did his schooling at the VMJ School, Madurai. Ask him about his school days and he says, "I was a brilliant student at school and always stood within the first five ranks."

Regarding "other" activities at school, Selvaraj says, "I used to take part in a lot of competitions. Especially Karate competitions. I was famous for that."

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The typical school-boy, Selvaraj also wielded the bat at cricket matches and kicked ball at football tournaments. 

Selvaraj belonged to the class of 1989, and graduated from the National Engineering College, Nalattinputtur, near Madurai. "I took up computer science in college, as just then Rajiv Gandhi has begun promoting IT and many people had advised me to choose computer science claiming it to be the next big thing," says a nostalgic
Selvaraj.

The one incident he cannot forget during his college days was when he was caught smuggling his friend into college during an intercollegiate meet. "Being a strict college, our friends from other colleges were not allowed to stay with us even during these inter-college festivals. But this incident really proved the confidence my friends and teachers had in me. They spoke in favor of me to the management and the issue was solved. But I still get goose-pimples when ever I think of this incident."

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Selvaraj however feels better about this incident ever since his alma mater invited him as chief guest to inaugurate a intra-university symposium for the CSI chapter, where he was also required to release a magazine, recently. "I felt really proud then," says an ecstatic
Selvaraj.

Once out of his college portals, Selvaraj was in for a shock: there were no job opportunities. Atleast nothing that excited him.

"I decided to start my own business," says an emphatic Selvaraj.

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Opportunity came in the form of childhood friend and schoolmate, Arunachalam and now a partner with him in PC World.

Arunachalam had been with Pragati Computers and had decided to start his own venture. Together, they set up PC World.

"We started with zero investment. And we started by providing service to customers. And believe me, those days, servicing a HCL system was the most difficult task, cause nobody would let you do it if you're not a HCL service engineer."

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Selvaraj and Arunachalam managed to break that myth. Their first major break came from Fenner India. And ever since, there has been no looking back. PC World even weathered the slowdown and has emerged stronger than ever before.

Today, PC World is a Rs 4.6 crore company, with a plush showroom, dedicated exclusively to the end-user and also an exclusive retail outlet. What's more, Selvaraj has been elected as Secretary of CAMS, a computer dealer association of
Madurai.

A traveler at heart, Selvaraj can be found camping in Kodaikanal with his family, during vacations. He plans to visit many places in India and abroad. A typical Acquarian, Selvaraj is innovative, disciplined, and a go-getter. However, he's best described in his own words: "honest and broadminded". He's also very target oriented and gets mercenary when it comes to achieving something. On the personal front, Selvaraj rates him 'best' when it comes to being a family man. 

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Patricia Sridhar

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