‘The Sona Story’ celebrates life, legacy of C. Valliappa

Salem, the city where Sona group’s education institutions were seeded and flourished, was a fitting setting for this heartfelt celebration of a life lived with impact and integrity.

In a fireside conversation with the author Chitra Narayanan, Mr Valliappa shared vignettes from his journey - from the day (it was on the auspicious Vijayadashami day) that he entered his family's business in Salem, and cockily sat in his father's room only to be firmly put in his place, on to his move to Bengaluru where he learnt to learn the language and adapt. He shared the spectacular success of his textile business and the subsequent failure due to labour unrest and global trade headwinds.

In retrospect he candidly shared that where he went wrong was to ignore inefficiency, and urged the audience to "weed out inefficiency ruthlessly" whenever they saw it.  Recounting his successful diversification into IT and real estate, he said he had travelled a long way from that first day all thanks to the good wishes of people.

Three eminent panellists who followed the fireside chat -- Dr. Uma Kannan, author, philanthropist and educationist, Dr. K. Arthanari, medical entrepreneur and academician and Tharanipathy Rajkumar, a textile entrepreneur and educationist -- recounted personal anecdotes of Mr Valliappa’s all-encompassing vision and values of resilience, hope, and transformation.

Valliappa has spurred the family legacy of preparing technical talent to greater heights with focus on research, innovation and industry collaboration.

Dr Uma Kannan, educationist, author and philanthropist recalled how Mr Valliappa moved from textiles to technology, from setbacks to spectacular success, all the while remaining rooted in tradition and driven by duty. The Sona Story, she said, is a beacon for future generations that honours the past and inspires the future. She also warmly acknowledged the role of Mrs Valliappa - Seetha Aachi to everyone - who provided rock solid support.  As Mr Valliappa himself acknowledged when asked about his ability to adapt - it is easy to adapt, when you have somebody along with you who is a pillar.

Describing how Valliappa rose up to all the challenges he faced in his textile business, Tharanipathy Rajkumar said, "Mr Valliappa has more than lived up to the legacy of his grandfather Karumuttu Thiagarajar Chettiar".

He also talked about how Valliappa successfully steered and mentored the Karnataka Textile Mills Association for more than 30 years.

Listeners could hardly tell that here was a man who, last year, had seen over 1,000 full moons. His abundant energy, dry wit, sharp memory, and spontaneous repartee had the audience laughing, reflecting, and occasionally holding back emotion as he spoke of reinvention, loss, resilience, and purpose.

Valliappa's son Chocko jokingly remarked that it was fitting that his dad celebrated the occasion of 1,000 full moons in the year when India's Chandrayaan mission achieved a historic soft landing on the Moon. Incidentally, the Sona group has had a small role to play in ISRO's mission, contributing a tiny but critical motor for Chandrayaan-3.

Laughter rippled through the audience when a student from the Sona College of Arts and Science endearingly referred to Valliappa as the "youngest old man" she had met.

Finally, and fittingly, the next generation of the Sona group, Varun Chockalingam addressed the audience and his grandfather saying, "As we turn the pages of the Sona Story, we are reminded that our future must be rooted in the integrity and innovation that he championed. It is not just a book launch but a promise to carry your vision forward."

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