Founder of Krishna Mart passes away |30 April 2020
Krishnamurthy Pillay
Krishnamurthy Pillay, well known Seychellois wholesaler and retail businessman of Indian origin and owner of Krishna Mart Co (Pty) Ltd, passed away yesterday in a hospital in Chennai, India, at the age of 85.
Born on September 17, 1935, Mr Pillay arrived in Seychelles in 1947 on a cargo ship at the age of 12 after having lost both parents in India. Still at this young age, he started off with his first job as a baker at Sinnasammy Chetty’s bakery. After that, he worked at the Chez Deenu shop for a couple of years before opening his first wholesale and retail shop at Castor Road, English River.
He later opened the second wholesale and retail business – a shopping complex on 5th June Avenue known as ‘Krishnamart & Co (Pty)Ltd’, still in the English River district, where he spent the last thirty-six years before going on medical treatment in India on June 12, 2019.
According to his son, Raja Pillay, his father, albeit his age, was always looking forward to seeing his regular clients everyday and to have a chat with them. His shop to him, he noted, was more than a business as it was his whole life.
He also said that his father, till his last days, had a very good memory and he could recount events that happened many years ago.
Raja Pillay noted that his father loved Seychelles dearly and had always expressed his wish to be buried in Seychelles in the event of his death. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said that his body will be incinerated in India but his ashes will return to Seychelles.
Apart from Raja, Mr Pillay also leaves behind his two other sons – Nelson and Ravi, daughters Rani and Saroja, and grand children.
He will also be sadly missed by everyone who was used to seeing his face over the counter and to share a little joke when they entered his shop.
Mr Pillay, as founding member of the Seychelles Hindu Kovil Sangam, contributed towards the construction of the first Hindu Temple in Seychelles, situated in the centre of Victoria, among his other support to other faiths and causes in the country.
Patrick Joubert
