When Yesudas failed to impress me!

K J Yesudas is one of the most celebrated singers India has ever produced. He is estimated to have recorded an overwhelming 50000 songs in more than a dozen Indian and foreign languages.

He was already a living legend by the time I reached my middle school. This was year 1993. That was when one day, dad came home with a breaking news that Yesudas was to perform at a musical concert in Assumption college, one of the most famous colleges in Changanacherry, my hometown in Kerala. Naturally, everyone got excited because you were getting an opportunity of a lifetime to listen to a musical icon in the country performing live!

For me personally, that was not the real excitement. It was also the first year after my dad opened Adens, an ice cream parlour and restaurant, in our hometown. After breaking the news about Yesudas, dad also mentioned that we were going to have a food stall inside the college where people could walk in and buy ice creams and snacks. Yay! We were going to run a shop inside one of the biggest colleges in our small hometown.

Dad also offered to pick me up from school in the evening which was a rare occurrence since I used to commute daily to school on an auto rickshaw. I felt happy that my dad was coming to pick me up from school that day! Small happinesses in life.

By the time I reached the age of middle school, dad used to give me a small amount as pocket money. Nothing fancy, it was about Rupees 2 a month. But the value of that was so high those days, that you will not believe me if I said, I was able to buy twenty candies for just one Rupee! So, on the day of the concert I ensured that I bought a handful of those candies from a tiny shop behind our school where I waited for my dad to pick me up.

Soon we reached the college where the musical concert of Yesudas was about to begin. As soon as I stepped into the campus, what greeted me was a large make-shift frame which connected two of the main buildings of the college. The frame looked as though it was painted in pure white and there were images of bright red apples placed at equal distance from each other across which the word Adens was engraved. It was the beautiful logo of our business. Everyone who walked through the gates of the college that day, stood and took notice of the shop and the brand Adens. 

It was a pure marketing genius of dad to secure a stall there in college for the event, which was the only food stall available in the campus that day. Not only did the day end up as exceptionally good for the business but also gained much needed publicity for a new brand in town.

Meanwhile, the concert was an equally big hit and soon after the event, Yesudas headed back home. So did I, with tummy filled with candies and mind brimming with business ideas.

Thanks again to dad for instilling such brilliant marketing lessons right from our childhood in my brother and me. I am sure his soul must be rejoicing up in Heaven for a life well lived!