How Chennai's iconic 'LIC building' is connected to a now-defunct industrial unit in central Kerala

The iconic LIC building on Anna Salai in Chennai was ablaze for a short while Sunday afternoon.

An electrical failure in one of its massive display panels had triggered the fire, which was doused inside an hour preventing further damage to the 14-storeyed structure that was once India's tallest building.

The building completed in 1959 stands 177 feet and even though it lost the 'tallest' tag a long time ago, the LIC building remains a popular landmark in Chennai.

But did you know there is a connection between the LIC building and a now-closed industrial unit at Perumbavoor in central Kerala?

The now-defunct Travancore Rayons Limited and the LIC building on Anna Salai shared a common owner -- Muthiah Chidambaram Chettiar.

In fact, Travancore Rayons, which became operational in 1950, almost a decade before the LIC building was inaugurated, was one of the first projects of the Madras-based industrialist.

Chettiar was convinced to start Travancore Rayons -- widely regarded as Asia's first Rayons (semi-synthetic fibre made of cellulose) manufacturing company -- by CP Ramaswami Iyer, then Diwan of Travancore at the behest of King Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma.

Travancore Rayons soon became a thriving business and then Chettiar turned his attention to Mount Road, where he wished to construct a skyscraper modelled on the UN Secretariat in New York.

But Chettiar, who founded the Indian Overseas Bank, did not live long enough to see his dream project rise into the skies. He died in an air crash in Singapore in 1954.

While the LIC building remains active, as the south India headquarters of the insurance major, Travancore Rayons has slipped into oblivion. But a statue of Chettiar still stands on its premises.