‘Success is his style and habit’

His great interest for science won accolades for him. At the
age of 14, he became famous in his hometown Madurai and got wide coverage and
publicity in English and Tamil newspapers for introducing a camera for just Rs
1. He went on to set rec-ords by assembling a record player with simple base
tools and made it a habit to launch some innovative products ev-ery year. Meet R
Ravi, Director of Seayali Computers and Components, a Madurai-based IT company
which is creating records in business too. Ravi is known for his distinct
character and today, he runs two different businesses simultaneously being a
leader in both the segments.

Born in 1958, Ravi comes from a big family of four brothers
and one sister. His father, SAC Ramachandran, was a businessman selling coffee
seeds and mother Rajalakshmi managed home affairs. Ravi joined St. Joseph
Convent in Madurai to start his primary education and studied there up to Class
V. Later, he moved to St Mary’s School where he studied up to SSLC. "I
was an above average student coming within first 10 ranks and scie-nce was my
favorite subject. I have participated in many science exhibitions and
compe-titions, and won many prizes. My outstanding projects were reported in the
newspapers (The Hindu and Malai Malar)," claimed Ravi. His first major
award-winning project was a photo camera for just Rs 1. He made this camera
using general machine lens and a cardboard with a 120mm film.

Later, Ravi did many projects in science, mainly in electro-nics,
which got him recognition in the town. His passion for science had made him to
take engineering prog-ram after completing PUC. He moved to Coimbatore to join
PSG Tech and within a year, he came back home, nostalgic. "Then, I joined
Thayagarajar College of Engineering to do B Tech. In the second year, I opted to
take electronics and communication discipline and I had to move to Karaikudi to
do this course. My parents and teachers were not confi-dent of me as I came back
from Coimbatore. But, this time, I was determined to finish it although I had to
be separated from my family for four years. I did my program in Alagappa
Chettiar College (ACT) at Karaikudi," he detailed.

In the final year, Ravi took up a special project of building
an instrument which is capable of checking blood pressure, pulse and
temperature, all-in-one. "I named it as `Ucheck3’ and I was able to do it
only for pulse and temperature checking. However, the project won the second
best award at the state-level," quipped Ravi.

Ask about extra-curricular activities, pat comes the reply,
"I am good in other areas too. I had donned few roles in stage drama and
mostly I was given lady role considering my soft-look. In games, I like only
chess," he said.

Narrating about the unforge-ttable incident in his life, Ravi
recalled his narrow-escape from death at the age of six. "It is still fresh
in my memory, how I escaped from that accident. I was crossing the road straight
opposite my house and when I reached the middle of the road I saw a mail van
(postal department vehicle) fast app-roaching me at a great speed. Everyone at
the roadside (on-lookers) thought it was the end of my life and I suddenly fell
straight to the line of vehicle and the van crossed over me truly in a filmy
style. As soon as the van crossed, I stood back without any scratch or injury on
my body, much to the shock and surprise of onlookers. Still, I don’t know how
I escaped from it, may be all because of God’s grace."

Now, Ravi is a God fearing person who goes to temple
regularly. He says, without God he would not have been in business or any other
field. Ravi started his Seayali Computers and Components after doing a
short-term program in IT hardware engineering. Before he got into IT business,
he was managing a wick-stove manu-facturing company, Janshi Industries, which
his father bought for him. "My father bought it as a sick industry and
within two years, I made it a more profitable business. Today, we export stoves
to Sri Lanka and Africa," he said.

On the personal front, Ravi got married to Chitrakala in 1982
and he has two daughters Jasmina Janshi, doing B. Arch. and Sujitha studying in
9th Standard. "I am very attached to my family and make it a point to spend
my holidays with them. On holidays, we travel to some wonderful tourist
destinations and my favorite spot in the country is Munnar, Kerala," added
Ravi.

S Gopikrishna