LATE SHRI P.A. RAMAKRISHNAN
(1927-2008)
(Former Managing Director,Vadyar Boats Pvt. Ltd and Executive Shri P. A. Ramakrishnan was born in a very poor Vedic priest family at Puthucode village in Palakkad District of Kerala on 15th Feb 1927. After passing out First Class in Mechanical Engineering Diploma at Madras in 1946, He joined Ms. Scindia Shipyard (presently Hindustan Shipyard Ltd, Visakhapatnam) in their drawing office and was involved in designing the first ship "S.S. Jala Usha" built at Independent India in 1948. He then completed his Naval Architecture at City & Guilds, Glasgow, U.K. in 1948 and joined Ms. Hooghly Docks & Port Engineers Ltd, Calcutta as Assistant Naval Architect in 1950 and was involved in various aspects of Shipbuilding.

He joined the Calcutta Port Commissioners as Assistant Superintendent, Dry Docks in 1953 and was deputed as Technical representative to Ms. William Simons Ltd, Glasgow, U.K. for two year training in all departments of the shipyard in 1954. The highlight of his tenure was that He refused to comply with the western tradition of opening a Champagne bottle for the keel plate laying ceremony of the Ship as per existing practise and instead insisted for a Coconut which He broke as per our culture and tradition just seven years after India’s Independence from the British much to the astonishment of the Englishman present during the o

ccasion.

He later returned to India in 1956 and married Late Saroja Ramnarayan and has three Daughters and a Son. Thereafter He was promoted as Superintendent, Dry Docks and Naval Architect to the Calcutta Port Commissioners and during this period He designed several Port Trust vessels such as Hopper Barges, Tugs, Survey vessels, etc. and was involved in the famous ship surgery of the passenger vessel T.S.S. Sangola which ran aground at River Hooghly and read a paper on the same at the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, London in 1964. He then joined Ms. Shipping Corporation of India Ltd as Technical Officer in their Calcutta office and his most notable contributions were redesigning India' first Oceanographic Research Vessel 'Gaveshani' for National Institute of Oceanography, Goa and converting a Hopper Barge, he had earlier designed for the Calcutta Port Commissioners.

As an avid Yachtsman, He used to sail regularly in the Hoogly River and later at the Royal Madras Yacht Club, Madras Port. He also had the opportunity to sail at the world famous Satgringam Yatch Club in Melbourne, Australia in Dec 2000. As a matter of fact it was this passion that proved to be the catalyst, fast tracking his ambition to start the boatyard in 1969.

There were two European United Nations experts attached to the Hydraulic Research Department of the Calcutta Port Trust staying near his residence. They proudly informed him during a casual chat one day that a Carpenter at Calcutta had built a Plywood Yacht within a record period of three months. They were regular sailors at the Barrackpore Yacht Club and had deep insights where incidentally He was an active member and also Vice Commodore of the same club. He replied that there was nothing remarkable and it could be done in a shorter period to which He was immediately challenged to prove it by building a similar Yacht.

He took it up in right earnest opening his old kit of tools from U.K. and started building the Yacht working mostly during his spare time in the nights and holidays. To his own pleasant surprise, He completed it in a record period of one month. When He showed the new Yacht to his European friends, they were astonished to say the least and told him in no uncertain terms that he was wasting his time in his present job at Calcutta Port Commissioners. The statement reactivated his dormant ambitions and with meagre savings, bank borrowings, hired a small place located at a Mangrove in Vannanthurai, near Adyar, Madras and started Ms. Vadyar Boats ( name was a tribute to his family lineage of Vedic Priests) very modestly manufacturing wooden boats and small boats in 1969.

It was during this period that Indian Ships had started replacing their Metal with Fibreglass Lifeboats, which enabled him to consolidate his experience gained during his deputation to U.K in the 1950's and 60’s. His firm indigenously designed, manufactured and supplied hundreds of FRP Open Lifeboats and other types of various boats to shipyards, Shipping and other companies in India and Abroad in the 1970’s and 80’s.

He organised India's first international Maritime Exhibition to commemorate the centenary celebrations of Madras Port Trust in 1981 along with Late Shri V.S. Mani, Administrative Manager, who had earlier appointed him as an apprentice at Ms. Scindia Shipyard in 1946 and was associated in all his endeavours.

His firm achieved the rare feat of successfully designing and manufacturing the Totally Enclosed Fire Protected Lifeboat in Apr 1990, accomplished by a few European and Japanese firms globally at that time which had a thriving ship-building ecosystem making it all the more commendable due to its literal non-existence in India. The other milestones included the indigenous design and manufacture of the 11 mtr 25 Passenger capacity High Speed FRP Launch for inter Island transport in Feb 1997 and 9.70 mtr 24 Passenger capacity Twin Screw Engine FRP Water Bus for ferrying customers to the ship’s Casino at Goa in June 2007.

Throughout his long and distinguished career, He was very passionate in fulfilling his social responsibilities and worked with Late Shri Eknath Ranadeji, mentor of Shri Narendra Modiji, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India during construction of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari in the 1960's. Besides collecting funds, He donated the first FRP Work Boat “Agastya” for construction of the project in 1968.

He heroically rescued distressed people affected by the devastating floods that wrecked havoc at Madras on 11th Nov 1985 and the same was published in The Hindu newspaper (https://drive.google.com/file/d/14H5QCLgyIM15hGxLMa7F8Q_0b0pik5D_/view).

As the Managing Trustee of Sri Adi Shankara Educational Trust, He was instrumental in gifting 58 acres of prime land to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, a premier Cultural and Educational Institution at Thiruporur in outskirts of Chennai near the 1100 year old Lord Murugan Temple in Feb 1997 for construction of a mega Educational cum Cultural Complex including an Woman’s College, Management Institute, Ayurveda Park, Floriculture and Horticulture institute etc. The motivation came from the immense difficulties He had personally faced while trying to obtain College admission for his third daughter in 1983.

It was also due to his dedicated efforts of more than two years that the first Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Centre at Sydney, Australia was inaugurated by Shri Yashwant Sinha, then Minister for External Affairs, Govt. of India in Aug 2003.

He started the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kendra at his native Puthucode village in Palakkad district of Kerala in Oct 2000 and immediately opened a school at the primary level. His vision was rural children from lower income groups denied high standards of education must have access to it without migrating for this purpose and the catered education must be value based encompassing our glorious culture and heritage including study of Sanskrit studies. It was due to his pioneering initiative that Five National Seminars on Sanskrit and Culture were organised by Bhavan, Puthucode Kendra from 2002 to 2007 with scholars, eminent personalities from all over India including the minority communities participating in it.

Apart from his own personal contributions, He collected funds from India, Abroad for rapid expansion of the School and the Educational Complex Phase I constructed at a cost of Rs. 1.25 Crores in 11.30 acres at Mannapra village was formally inaugurated in Dec 2008. The Bhavan's CBSE affiliated school phase I, II and III (www.bhavansmannapra.in) currently caters to the needs of around 1000 children settled at several villages within a radius of 10 - 20 kms from Vadakkachery to Pazhayannur in Palakkad district and stands testimony to his selfless and relentless efforts. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Head Office at Mumbai named the School as “Shri P.A. Ramakrishnan Memorial Vidyashram” in recognition of his extraordinary contributions and tribute to memory in Sept 2008.

His last assignment in defence of Dharma was being involved in the Save Rama Setu Movement, the oldest heritage monument in the world estimated to be 1.7 million years old. Due to his vast experience in Shipping spanning more than six decades, He was strongly convinced on the non viability and feasibility of the Sethu Samudram Shipping Canal Project initiated by then Govt. of India and also concerned of the devastating consequences, impact on our priceless heritage, ecology and livelihood of fisherman etc. due to the proposed destruction of the Rama Setu.

He was instrumental in publishing full page colour supplements on the importance of saving Rama Sethu in two national newspapers (New Delhi Edition) in July and Aug 2007 which also had his technically brilliant article “Nightmare Ship Salvage Operation if Sethu Samudram is aligned as a Mid Ocean Channel Passage”, comparing the proposed project with the Suez Canal Shipping Channel project which He had visited in the 1950’s.

He passed away on 9th March 2008 at the venerable age of 81 after a fulfilling life of achievements and accomplishments as a Naval Architect, Industrialist and Social Worker.

“If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children”

Confucius