In 1904, I joined the Salem Government Weaving School, and learnt the art of weaving.  Then I started my own handloom factory at Salem with a capital of Rs.1,000/- and manufactured dhoties, towels, shirtings  etc., with fly-shuttle looms.  I was able to produce first quality materials, which had a ready market at competitive rates, not only in Salem, but in the whole of the Madras Presidency.  However, in 1906, I handed over the weaving factory to a partner of mine, and  to Madras, and started selling ghee and tamarind, at Triplicane.  This business was not successful, and it resulted in a loss.

In 1908, I was a volunteer in the Congress, under Sri V.S. Srinivasa Sastri, as I was hard up for funds at that time.  I had to join as a volunteer for food.  As a volunteer I came in contact with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and his sons, who visited Madras at that time, and had the opportunity of taking them round the city.  I spent one year like this, and during 1909 I felt that I should have a permanent job to keep me going.  I went from place to place, and tried even at a cloth-shop for a job on Rs.15, but was not successful.

Sri N.S.T. Chari and Sri Visvanatha Pillai, who were in the Mysore Tanneries, asked me to take up Chrome leather goods on commission basis.  Without finance, I was afraid to take up the job on commission basis.  Without finance, I was afraid to take up the job on commission basis.  My offer to serve them on a monthly salary of Rs.15 was rejected.  Finding no opening in Madras, I went back to Kumbakonam, and from there wrote to the Mysore Tanneries that I would take up the job on commission basis, and I also put up a stall at the Mahamaham Exhibition in February 1909.  But they demanded an advance of Rs.250/- for sending me the supplies.  A friend came to my help and gave me Rs.250/- even without a promissory note.  It is only his blessings that has placed me in this affluent position today, and I should be grateful to him throughout my life.  I immediately sent the deposit, and got the samples.  Having a good personality and capacity to convince people, I was able to book substantial orders on the first day itself.  By the time the Exhibition came to a close, I had booked orders for Rs.10,000/- and earned a commission of nearly  Rs.750/- in the first month itself.  Then only I realised that I had the capacity for selling.  I went to the orthodox widows in Tanjore District and asked them to purchase the deer-skin bags for keeping their 'madi', instead of using the old-type  'madisanchi'.  I then travelled throughout the length and breadth of India, as the agent of Mysore Tanneries, for nearly five years.  In 1914, I was appointed as the Manager of the Mysore Tanneries Show-room at Calcutta, on a salary of Rs.250/- plus free quarters.  I was attending to nearly 400 to 500 customers daily in the shoe-shop at college street, Calcutta.  At that time, the Mysore Tanneries were  badly in need of funds.  They had no money to buy raw skins.  I booked orders, with advances, while the hides were still on the backs of the living animals!  The advance money received by me was used for purchasing hides and skins.  In order to help the Mysore Tanneries, I took up the management of the Berhampur Leather  Manufacturing Company, Bengal, which was started by the Maharaja of Kasim Bazaar.  The machinery had not been fitted, and the factory was not working.  Still, I was able to collect Rs.3 lakhs for the working capital, in Bengal itself, though I was new to the place.

The concern was brought to a sound position and we shipped finished leather even to England during the First World War.  The firm supplied boots and shoes on a commercial scale throughout India, including to European firms like Whiteway Laidlaw & Co. Ltd. and the Army and Navy stores, Simla.  On account of difference of opinion in the partnership with Sri N.S.T. Chari, I left the firm in April, 1917.

There was a full in my acitivity for about two years and I was idle till 1919, when I started the India Company, with a Capital of  Rs.1,700/- which my aunt had left into my possession at the time of her death.  The business of coal-tar, which I started was very profitable, and this enabled my friends, Sri C.R. Srinivasan and Sri G. Nagaratnam, to join me as partners.  The Indian Company Ltd. was registered.  I contributed Rs.5,000/- while Sri C.R. Srinivasan and Sri G. Nagaratnam each contributed Rs.2,500/- towards the share capital.  The capital was gradually increased to Rs.50,000/- during 1920.  In 1920, I also took up a contract for the monthly supply of 1,000 tons of coal to the Madras Corporation at Rs.5/- per ton, cheaper than what they were paying previously.   Side by side, I  took up the agency for Oldmobile cars, and was able to sell a number of them, as the imported cars were very few in those days.  This car business helped me to take the Postal Contract, under the name 'Garage Limited', and I secured the Contract for 15 years on a subsidy of Rs.10,000/- a month, starting from 1921.  Though it was not profitable in the first year, in subsequent years it proved to be very remunerative.  In 1925, the Postal Dept. offered me the Calcutta Postal Contract for Rs.17,000/- per mensem, which was 25% cheaper than what the Government were spending departmentally.  The Calcutta contract was for ten years, in the first instance, and for seven years in the second instance.  This also resulted in substantial profits.  In addition to the Postal work, the firm 'Garage (Calcutta) Limited' took up military 'hired transport' contracts, and the East Indian Railway street delivery service.

The India Company Ltd., Madras, took up the agency for Tata Steel in 1923, and for about ten years we were selling nearly 2,000 tons of steel per month on a small commission.  This enhanced my reputation very much in Madras city, and I became one of the important business magnates.

I started the Kumbakonam Electric Supply Corporation Ltd.  in 1932, and the Negapatam Electric Supply Company Ltd. and Indian Steel Rolling Mills Ltd. in the year 1933, and these companies have flourished very  well.  I'm now the Chairman of all these five companies, viz.,

1. The India Company Ltd.
2. The Garage Ltd.
3. The Indian Steel Rolling Mills Ltd.
4. The Kumbakonam Electric Supply Corporation Ltd.
5. The Negapatam Electric Supply Company Ltd.

In 1944, when my wife died, I made up my mind to minimise my comforts and sold my two bungalows, and gave a donation of Rs.5 lakhs to start "THE MADRAS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY".  Nobody asked me to start this institute by selling away my bungalows.  For my Rolling Mills and Electric Supply Companies, I had to get foreigners even for erection work and therefore immediately made up my mind to produce Engineers-Scientists-cum-practical men in India itself, for starting industrial concerns, or for taking up posts in the Defence departments and replace foreigners in due course.  This has become a 'fait accompli' and the Institute has flourished very well during the last five years, and I am proud to say that many of our students have been absorbed in the Defence services, and in big industrial establishments.

I am now just like a Sanyasi, spending my whole time, energy and attention for the Institute that I have started.  Even though I have become blind, I know from pin to plane-making in the Institute, and I'm guiding the Director and the staff in the discharge of their duties.