My father (L Subramaniam Mudaliar) and uncle (L Mohanasundaram Mudaliar), sons of Loganatham Mudaliar joined him in the business in the early fifties. I came and started work in the shop after schooling in 1967 and subsequently my cousins and brother also joined us. Today we are four partners Sukumar, Ramesh Babu, Shankar and me from the same family taking care of this business. My grandfather lived till 1976 and he ran the shop till the end”.
The core business of N. Logantham and Co. was making rubber stamps and engraving on metals. They were one of the first in this business and gained popularity because of the quality they delivered. They were also famous for making the common seal because that was a very important stamp on any paper and people trusted their integrity. They still receive regular government orders and outstation orders sent through letters. Manufacture of brass tokens that are used in banks and brass name boards are also in their line of activity. They are the only ones who are registered under sales tax act in this industry.
Ramesh Babu, the other partner said “The modality of manufacture has changed a lot with computerisation of our unit. In those days, engraving was done by embossing by hand. Now we use the type setting. The rubber stamps are also ready in one hour’s time now as compared to a whole day’s work in the beginning. There is a lot of competition now. We have adapted to the new changes and introduced self inking rubber stamps and imported bases for making date stamps.” He added in a lighter vein “Business was done very differently during my grandfather’s time because a telephone got installed only in 1937, almost ten years after opening the shop”.
Interestingly, the shop stands in the same spot for nearly eight decades with very little change in the interiors. The third generation businessmen in this family carry a lot of pride in what they have been doing. They wish to continue the tradition passing it on to the next generation, retaining their exemplary stamp of class.
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