Robert Kennedy Savarimuthu

Robert is as interesting and intriguing as his name is.

                                           

As I sat by the first evening of my visit, listening to this really mixed group from Mahabs, Bangalore, Paris, Tunisia and Chennai, chatting up over a bottle(s) of wine, I was not just fascinated, but also got curioser and curioser. The last day of my visit, I was lucky enough to catch Robert alone at breakfast for a more incisive chat. Here's excerpts:

Robert is basically from Chennai, and has worked his way up..... right from the slums of Chennai....through living in Australia, Canada, US, UK and Switzerland..... before finally making Mahabalipuram his home.

His fascination for the sea started right from when he was in class eight, and he used to often cycle all the way from Chennai to Mahabalipuram, just to soak in the sea and sand. While he was born into gang wars and the tough life, he says the calm and serenity of the sea used to feel like paradise, and there were days he used to even sleep all nights on the beach by himself.

He was a dreamy guy and not interested in academics, and in class eleven he was suspended from school. There was an Anglo Indian teacher in the same school who seems to have seen something in him...he took him under his wing, and Robert went on to live in that teachers house, helping out with the tuitions, and did his rest of schooling from there.

He said everything in his life was a story. It's on the Mahabs beach that he got to know a lot of tourists, especially foreign tourists....... being with who, he says, expanded his 'world view'. And he said it's here that he was introduced to the world of music and art which grew to become a significant part of his life. (to the extent that today he plans to visit Belgium to attend a music festival)

His uncle was a kingpin in Burma bazaar (anyone who knows erstwhile Madras will know that this was a most popular smuggled goods market), and Robert was his right hand man, and was pivotal in sourcing products from Singapore and Malaysia, as much above board as under. He started to challenge the norms and he found himself making a lot of money. To the work trips to Malaysia he added visits to Genting island, again the sea....... and this time the casinos. (I could see he had identified his own concept of a stop loss ) He had a figure that was non negotiable; if he went in with ten thousand ringets, that was his threshold of loss. 

And then he made more money, and started to travel the world, all through his contacts built on the beaches of Mahabs. He even become the contact guy for song filming in Switzerland for the Tamil film world, back in the day when the concept was yet nascent, also through a Swiss contact on the beach of Mahabs.

One thing he said he had learnt from all his travel abroad, is how much people lived by the watch, how everything was a norm, a rule..... sleep, work, love, play..all timed....and life almost got lived only on weekends......and somewhere along he decided he wouldn't live like that. He didn't want a system.

Here was a guy who really thought for himself.

One of the really interesting and deep things he said. He has this policy he calls 1/3 , 1/3, 1/3.

One third part of his earnings for daily expenses, one third part for savings, and one third for helping others. He say whatever he has earned, he has always done that. I found that profound and exemplary. 

During the tsunami of 2004, he was in Canada. The tsunami impact on the east coast of India was catastrophic.....and that's when he decided his place was here, and he had to do his bit....... and he came back....and it's then that Bob Marley happened to him.

A French - German couple who owned a small shack called Bob Marley's, decided to move back to France ......and there he spotted his opportunity. He bought the place. He bought it as a small shack, and over the years he has built on it. He now has around five rooms and while it's now a concrete structure, it still retains the thatched roof and the shack feel that's so intrinsic to it's ambience (In fact that couple came back to India later, and now have a cafe in Pondicherry and he's still in touch with them)

An interesting twist was an issue with the name......he received a letter from the US stating copy right reasons.  He then changed the name to Bob's Cafe, but even today everyone in Mahab's knows it as Bob Marleys.

A couple of things at Bob Marley's which also caught my attention.... he has one beautiful dog named Rasta and, hold your breath... around fourteen cats on the premises. He says the cats help keep away the rats, but .....but there's one little mouse in his room which is so cute that he doesn't let the cats in.

He also epitomizes the culture of the place..he lives it.... art and music seem to flow through the walls of Bob Marley's ...it's music even I'd listened to....full retro and all.

He has almost taken Diksha and Deepak under his wings, and while they are hard at work on the art on his cafe walls, as also others, I came back reassured that until they are in Mahabalipuram, they were not only in safe hands, but also in inspiring hands. Thanks Robert, for encouraging them, hosting them, motivating them....and keeping the pressure on them :)

And Robert, was really interesting meeting and talking to you...not too many can boast as fascinating and self chosen a journey as yours. Good Luck in the years to come, and may Bob Marley's go on forever !!