CHENNAI: Palam Silk’s founder Jeyasree Ravi has created a name and brand of her own despite belonging to the legacy of Nalli and Kumaran Silks. Started in 2003, the silk textile and clothing company grew into a household name, innovating and adapting to the need of the hour. The 51-year-old shares her story and passions.
What do you love themost about your job?
Whenever I go out, there will always be someone who talks to me about Palam. For example, I had gone to a friend’s house very recently. The host barely welcomed me when someone came running up to me and asked, “You’re from Palam Silks, no?” and she told me about how she had gone the other day and seen all our saris and how much she loved them, and so on. She even took down my number so that she could get a piece that she missed. I didn’t even get to say hello to the host! But I now see the love of the people that I couldn’t see when I used to work the floor at Palam.
Tell us about your love for silk sarees.
Coming from a family like Nalli and being married into Kumaran Silks, I can’t bear to see people moving away from silk saris. Nowadays, pattu saris are used only in muhurthams, and that really hurts me, which is why I decided to design day-to-day saris for casual wear. We learnt that some people don’t know how to tie a sari, so we made the readymade sari. We made saris with pockets. We are so established because of the pattu sari. Also, I wanted to give something back to the cloth.
Jeyasree at home vs at work?
At work, I’m like a school principal. I’m strict, no-nonsense and demand the best from my people. My home is right behind my store, merely a two- to three-minute walk. But in those couple of minutes, a change really happens. At home, I’m a cool mother, I like to be friendly with my kids. My father always let us chose what we wanted to do and gave us that freedom, so I try to do the same for my kids.
A piece of advice from your father?
Firstly, never compromise when it comes to quality. No matter what the weavers say, no matter what the issue is, you need to put your foot down and say that you expect it to be of this particular standard. Secondly, he always asked me to fully understand what I was stepping into, when I established Palam in 2003. I had two kids at the time, and he told me that once you get into this business, you can’t get out of it. It’s like an addiction. Turns out he was correct!
Tell us a little about your book, ‘The Magical Scroll’.
I am into life skills and the like. I wrote a book about the laws of the universe, and held sessions for school children and working women about this. Now, I wish I could have spoken in more schools about this. I also work one-on-one with some people. I would ask people to adopt three laws - the law of happiness, the law of awareness, and the law of unconditional love.
What do these laws mean?
There is a misconception about the law of happiness. You need to find happiness from within, only then will you attract good things in life. I see a lot of people being unconditionally happy but in reality, they are not. I always ask them, ‘without a catalyst, can you be happy?’ The law of happiness suggests that you must always be in your senses. Finally, the law of unconditional love is also misunderstood. People love unconditionally, but what they don’t realise is that you must unconditionally love someone who is deserving of it. When you unconditionally love an undeserving person, you may be protecting them and they don’t deserve that from you.