S tina Vasu and son Arun made the right choice when they chose city chronicler S. Muthiah to be Boswell. After all, Muthiah had been part of the TTK group for almost three decades and shared a warm rapport with T.T. Vasu, who he first met in 1968. The Man Who Could Never Say ‘No’ , Muthiah’s recent book chronicling T.T. Vasu’s life, is more than just a sprawling biography of a person born into privilege. It is an account that keeps pace with Vasu’s unusual childhood, role in a growing trade and manufacturing conglomerate, happy family life, popularity with people and fruitful tenure with The Music Academy, with a rare candour.
The Ranpar publication comes nearly 11 years after Vasu’s death, but nowhere has the intervening decade taken away from the freshness of the telling. “The book took its time coming because we wanted the right person to do it,” says Arun Vasu, CMD of the T.T. Group and Vasu’s younger son, in a telephone interview.
The book meant three years’ work for Muthiah, who read documents, old letters, Vasu’s collection of papers and archives of the companies he was associated with. His research team interviewed dozens of family members, friends and acquaintances to produce a balanced narrative that begins with an introduction to the TTK family and signs off with Vasu’s notes on himself. The thread that runs through the book and one that both family and author were particular about was that the writing would be frank and “tell it as it was”.
“An honest bare-it-all account is what my father would’ve liked,” says Arun. “In a way, that was who he was — direct in his approach, never shying away from saying what was on his mind. My mother was also fine with it. A lot of people were surprised we chose to have it written this way. Everyone has their ups and downs. He did things not for himself but because he thought it was best for the group. He had a remarkable memory for faces and names and helped everyone who came asking. Those were his good colours.”
“He did a lot he was not given credit for. We had a frank relationship; the book clearly reflects the man because he was always open about anything,” says Muthiah.
The last of four sons of T.T. Krishnamachari, one of young India’s foremost Union ministers, Vasu was two when he lost his mother. His childhood was a haze of days spent under the eagle eye of a not-so-affectionate paternal grandmother, who raised a brood of grandchildren. TTK rarely visited his sons, and Vasu lived in awe of his father all his life. However, when he had a family of his own, “he was very caring and loving although he was a very busy man. He made a conscious effort to be around,” says Arun.
Part of the book’s liveliness comes from the feisty characters that inhabit it and Vasu’s own traits that set him apart — his lifelong love for curd rice, his leaving Stina’s parties at an appointed hour after singing the National Anthem, his interviewing Tenzing and Hillary when they reached Base Camp in 1953, when he was a reporter with The Indian Express in Delhi, his whirlwind romance with Stina, their marriage built on a foundation of mutual respect for the other’s culture, his work with Bala Mandir, adopting a daughter, his encouragement of his grand nephew, T.M. Krishna’s vocal talent and his abject fondness for Harry Belafonte and Hollywood films that led to him publishing a 32-page journal U and the Movies , his founding of a Flynns Fan Club and, occasionally, dressing up like Errol Flynn.
But, it is in telling the story of his business enterprises and his tenure at the helm of The Music Academy that the book scores. Although the TTK Group gave him his first foray into industry, Vasu’s learning curve was not gentle. “He was a little too quick off the mark when making a decision. Many of them were wrong, many were right,” says Muthiah. “But Vasu always had the big picture.”
Nevertheless, the book covers a vast terrain, from Vasu setting up a famed cosmetic brand, a contraceptive manufacturing unit, printing atlases and maps, the establishment of what is now the Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park, to his work with the Public Health Centre, West Mambalam, and some business ventures that didn’t bring success.
According to the book, Vasu scored most when he headed the Academy for close to two decades, although it had its fair share of hiccups. His ‘Spirit of Youth’ concerts helped find and encourage young talent, and his fetish for punctuality led to some hilarious instances with performers, speakers and, on one occasion, even the President, during the Season.
Muthiah says credit for the title goes to Vasu’s nephew, T.T. Raghunathan. “My father never said ‘no’ to anyone, even if it got him into trouble,” says Arun. “The title is what he was.”
And, it is this side of the story that the book celebrates.
The book is available at Odyssey, Adyar, Anokhi at Chamiers and Amethyst.
