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 Slipping into the flash back of this young man would inspire any one. R.S. Prabhakaran, just 28 years old, can be found busy attending his mobile phone almost all the times. He has no degrees or diplomas but his bold step to start a rare business of selling colour fishes made him a popular person both in India and abroad. Not very often we come across in real life, people who succeed in what they do, in a short span of time. Opening a small aquarium at Egmore in a 100 sq ft shop in 1994 was the beginning of his today's happy and successful life.
'I was then 22 and looking for a good business. My friend who was selling colour fishes in Trichy recommended this and that is how I started selling colour fishes,' Prabhakaran reveals. Born to a leather exporter and had every chance of becoming one himself, Prabhakaran's adventurous attitude and determination to make,
'own money' made him start this business with a few thousands of rupees. His encounter with an imported fish food sparked off the adventure,
 which took him to Singapore and enabled him to establish contacts with many of the top merchants in aquaria and related products in the world.
'There were a couple of people in Chennai and elsewhere in India selling all the required products to maintain aquaria. But the cost of these products was as high as 300% and exorbitant even for the upper middle class. This made me go straight to the manufacturers of these products,' Prabhakaran explains. Today some of the top producers of products for pet animals such as Hagen (The Netherlands), who regularly supply their products, have so much faith on him that they would even respond to his call for orders for credit without asking for any documents.
 Prabhakaran in fact is the top distributor of aquaria products in India and has widespread network in the country. In order to establish a hobbyist community and woo new hobbyists, he has established a web site, where a comprehensive list of products and distributors are available. The site is called
'discusindia.com', a name Prabhakaran chose because of the popularity of Discus fish in India. ' In fact discus are like dogs in identifying and responding to their masters and has unique mannerism like mating with one partner only and staying alone with their partners,' Prabhakaran gives as reason for their popularity.
Visitors to discusindia.com can also get extensive details on aquarium maintenance.
 The business has earned Prabhakaran many millions, now he feels it is time for him to give back what he received from it. 'I am encouraging and helping many fish breeders in getting good price for the fishes they breed. I came up in life with great difficulties and I could empathize with their problems,' Prabhakaran says. At 28, he feels he has got many miles to travel in his business path and as it was six years ago, he is full of hopes and is ready for another adventure.
L Subramani
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