Here is a boy who washes his own clothes, cooks his own food and stands supreme in this class" was the succinct remark made by Mr.P.S.M.Pereira, former Head Master of St. Aloysius School, Sri Lanka. Born on 1916 at Idayangudi, a village in Radhapuram Taluk of Tirunelveli District, Mr.A.Chelladurai had his elementary education up to Std. VII. He had to discontinue his studies and leave to Sri Lanka in 1928, where he later continued to study. In 1934, he returned to India and settle down at Sivakasi, a town renowned for cottage industries in South India. He joined in a cottage match factory where he earned Rs.10 per month.

As his request for a hike of Rs.2 a month was turned down, he quit the factory for good." It was a turning point in my life. I walked out of the factory and started making matches on my own and sold them on the streets" says he. In 1930s, matches were imported from Burma ,Sweden and Japan. These were machine made and hence, had the good polished finish.

Mr.A.Chelladurai's matches were handmade and still, he competed with the foreign companies. Later, he turned his attention to fireworks. Initially, he imported raw materials from other countries and conducted various trials. Since then, he has been surging ahead in the field of pyrotechnics and broke the monopoly of countries like China and Taiwan. Now, he employs about 9000 workers and is the technical adviser to the Indian Army , apart from supplying them with practice bombs, hand grenades and so on . He supplies fog signals to Indian Railways and also provides guidance to the SriLankan government. In addition to fireworks, he is associated with a number of industries. His Bell Pins, manufactures several wire based products like pins, clips, staplers and so on. Now, Bell Pins and other products are household name in India.