ATMAKURI S. Raja is Mr. Visakhapatnam! Of that there is no doubt. He is easily the most liked and respected man in all of the city. And he is 75, an active and energetic 75, despite being stricken by Parkinson�s four years ago. On July 6, this year, when he celebrated 50 years of being married to Dr. A. Mangala Gowri, all of Visakhapatnam celebrated with him. And people are still talking about what a happy picture the A. S. Raja family made at the golden jubilee celebrations.

We missed the anniversary by a month. But A. S. Raja, who is an enterprising man, got the whole family together again and dressed them up in their traditional Andhra finery for our story and shoot. And, in a gesture of typical Vizag hospitality, he invited us to his palatial home for a lavish coastal Andhra lunch after that. That is the kind of person he is, spontaneous, warm and hospitable from the heart.

The family in the picture on the left is the golden anniversary couple, A. S. Raja and Dr. Mangala Gowri, and their two sons A. Vijay Kumar and Dr. A. V. Siva Prasad with their respective wives, A. Vasumathi and Dr. A. Sugandhi. Vijay Kumar and Vasumathi have two sons, A. Vikas and A. Vishal; and, Dr. Siva Prasad and Dr. Sugandhi have a boy and a girl, A. Sailesh and A. Shriya. But that�s not A. S. Raja�s whole family. These are all the members who are with him in Vizag. The elderly couple have another son, A. Ram Kumar, who is in the US, and who is married to an A. Sudha with whom he has had two children, A. Malika and A. Sushil Raja. It is important to get these facts right because A. S. Raja is that type of man, a stickler for detail. Detail and discipline have been the cornerstones of the success of his businesses and his life.

The family belongs to the Vysya community of Vizag, which is equal to the Bania community of Rajasthan or Gujarat, and they are vegetarian by diet and traders by profession. The parents live with the sons and their families in one large, modern house in which computers hum in the childrens� rooms and cell phones buzz in the elders� pockets. And from the kitchen, outside which the children sit in prayer before a small temple room of Lord Venkateshwara, the family deity, comes the most aromatic and appetising smells of coastal Andhra vegetarian food being cooked. Dr. Mangala Gowri, who is 69, and a Ph.D in Music, shares the cooking with her two daughters-in-law. This is that kind of home, they all live as one, happy joint family. �As far as possible, we dine together,� said A. S. Raja, who naturally takes his place at the head of the table. The daughters-in-law look after the service. First they serve their parents-in-law, then their husbands, and finally the children. And they keep a careful watch to see that everybody�s plate is full, that nobody is lacking for anything.

A. S. Raja started off early from Vijayanagram, when he was in his teens, to make his fame and fortune. He came to Vizag, studied here, started his businesses here, first with timber which he used to supply to ships at the port; then hardware; a retail store; cinema theatres; real estate; apartment development; and, now a 150-bed hospital and the No. 1 blood bank in Andhra Pradesh, the A. S. Raja Trust Voluntary Blood Bank. �We�ve done 50,000 infusions, not one complaint,� said the man who tasted poverty when he was young, and whose drive to make money has not diminished since then because he does not want the future generations of the A. S. Raja family to ever taste poverty like he did.

But the food. They are strict vegetarians, this A. S. Raja family. And the food is rice-based, with vegetables, dal, a curd-rice, pickles, chutneys, papads, and the mandatory payasam and Andhra sweetmeats at the end of the meal.

Dinner-times, they experiment with. Sometimes it is pizza, other times lasagne or North Indian food, just so that the children get variety and don�t complain of boredom. They have a cook who has been with the family for 20 years and who has learnt all the traditional coastal Andhra favourite dishes of the family.

The daughters-in-law too, both of whom came from other states (Vasumathi from Karnataka and Dr. Sugandhi from Tamil Nadu), picked up the cuisine. And the highpoint of their day or week is sitting down together at the large dining table over a meal.

A. S. Raja said, �I am very family-oriented. Of course, my sons and their families reciprocate, but I need them more. Their love and compassion is always there.� He himself eats very little. Parkinson�s disease has put him off food. Now, with his son Dr. Siva Prasad�s help, he is fighting the disease that Muhammad Ali surrendered to.

�I am a disciplined businessman and a patient. I strictly follow my medication,� he said. And he has a wry sense of humour as well. �My sons got their academic genes from my wife, unfortunately, my business genes have not gone to them,� he added.

He�s never had a drink in his life, nor even purchased a matchbox, forget smoking! �My father finished my quota,� he joked. �I get a high by seeing a positive balance sheet in all my businesses. I have always wanted overall growth, not just of my wealth, but my family too. Now at my age, it�s just my family.�

And Dr. Mangala Gowri is the woman behind this successful man. She did BSc with Home Science in Madras, then studied music, art, gardening, got degrees in Sanskrit and Telugu. Likewise, his son Dr. Siva Prasad, a DM in gastroenterology, runs the hospital, and his daughter-in-law Dr. Sugandhi the blood bank. The other son, A. Vijay Kumar, runs the family business in Vizag, which is the Geet and Sangeet cinema houses, and a mushroom farm in Ooty. A. Vasumathi, his wife, looks after the house.

It is amazing how they live together in utter harmony and love, how they cook together in one kitchen, and how, despite guests being entertained at home all the time and the cooking being done by the three women, the A. S. Raja family puts up an outstanding table of authentic and traditional coastal Andhra food. They just have not heard the story of too many cooks... Instead, A. S. Raja comes up with, �Many hands make light work, haven�t you heard!�