Golf Vs Buisness
By watching their behaviour on the golf course, I can judge whether they will do well in business or not,” says K Rajagopal, a leading textile magnet in the city. Reporter caught up with Rajagopal during an all-India professional golf tour of India tournament, held at Coimbatore Golf Club last weekend. A person who quits after one poor showing on the greens would never try overcoming a failure in business either, he says. “I have noticed some who keep working hard despite a bad start. By the time they reach the eighteenth hole, they are leading. They are the ones who have the guts to face hurdles and fight their way to the top in business,” says Rajagopal. Currently the MD of Vijayeswari Textiles, Rajagopal served as MD at Lakshmi Mills for over three decades before there was a split in the family-managed group in the nineties. Having started his career with Lakshmi Mills at Kovilpatti, Rajagopal is a multi-faceted personality. Although business keeps him busy, Rajagopal finds time to develop interests. His stint at Kovilpatti helped him take to game-hunting.
Leopards, wild boars and elephants were his prize games. There is the semblance of a leopard bite on the middle finger of his right hand. With the government ban on gamehunting coming into force in 1962, Rajagopal had moved over to another passion — flying. A private pilot licence-holder, Rajagopal had flown more than 2,500 hours with the Flying Club of Coimbatore. His firm Lakshmi Mills, was one of the first to have a six-seater, twin engine corporate aircraft, in which he had travelled all over the country. A chance meeting with his friend at Kodaikanal led to take up golf.
“Initially, I thought golf was child’s play and when I found out that I could connect the club and ball only one out of 10 times, did I know that it was not that easy,” he told. As a studious student, he started driving to Gymkhana Club in Ooty every weekend to practice golf. Slowly, the rising petrol cost, made him think about creating a golf course in Coimbatore and thus masterminded the sprawling Chettipalayam course. He brought in an internationally-trained coach with family in tow to teach Coimbatoreans the intricacies of golf and today the club has produced many top amateurs including Asian Games Medallist, Joseph Chakola.
Today, at 76 years, he hasn’t stopped learning new things. He is packing his brand new camera for a Kenyan Safari trip that he plans to undertake next month. “Now that I am getting old, the day is not far when my doctor would ask me to stop playing golf. I need something to divert my attention and have thus taken up photography,” he quipped. A perfectionist, Rajagopal is picking up the basics in photography and will spend 10 days at Masai Mara clicking pictures of animals and nature.
