Best foot forward
A diligent hawker today, can be a great tycoon tomorrow- this is what the man who laid the foundation for Kankatala empire, the late Mr.Kankatala Appalaraju,once again established. Little aware that he was essaying the preamble for a glorious success story, he set out on a bicycle, selling sarees in the villages fringing the then sleepy town Vizag. The meals served by the villagers had become his sustenance, while their open varandahs (arugus) became his resting lodges in the night. Perhaps, he had no inkling that the seeds thus he sowed would grow into a massive tree, spreading its tentacles all around.
Heavy burden on tender shoulders
Mr.Appalaraju was born in Tuni in 1923. Having lost his father at a young age, he had to step into his shoes. Being the only bread-earner of the family, he had to give up his schooling and he started working in a cloth shop. Learning the ropes of textile business rather quickly, the young Appalraju soon started buying cloth from Mumbai to be sold to Britishers at the Vizag railway station. Every single day he would travel from Tuni to Vizag amidst the mayhem of World War 2 to keep the family fed.
