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| T.V.Scaria, Popy Umbrellas, Alappuzha |
Long
ago, the first marriage proposal of T.V.Scaria alias St.George Baby
turned into a fiasco as the girl’s relatives found him at the workshop
stitching cloths and assembling parts for umbrellas with other workers.
Decades later, his Popy Umbrella has become an almost fashion
statement, fit for any occasion including a marriage ceremony.
St.George Umbrella, as it was known
then, was inherited by him from his father ‘Kuda Vavachan’. It was
then a cottage industry that depended on imported parts. When raw
materials were finally available in
When
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) decided to frame standards, he was the
only producer with documented processes.
No wonder Popy became the first umbrella manufacturer in the world
to be awarded ISO 9002 certificate.
Baby
recalls an event in this context. They
had gone to Japan
to buy raw materials. Though
they were willing to pay in advance,
the Japanese party uprightly rejected
their order as Indian firms were blacklisted then.
Undaunted, he approached them, this time introducing himself as
Chairman of BIS for umbrellas. The result was dramatic.
His team was treated with respect and their orders accepted without
any advance.
Baby’s
son Davis was behind the change of name to Popy.
The
company, which has production units at Alappuzha, Thane (Maharashtra) and Falna (Rajastan),
has more than 5200 agencies across
Courtesy:
Nageena Vijayan
(editorial), Margadarshi, The Times Group, August 2004
Contributed by: Administrator
