J.R.D. Tata was a visionary who was far, far ahead of his times, says his biographer

Remembering the real 'Bharat Ratna'. Mr. Russi Lala, who
has long been the biographer of the Tatas, speaks at the
last meeting on 'The little things which made J.R.D.
Tata great'

What was meant to be a simple talk on the little things that made Bharat Ratna J.R.D. Tata a great man, turned into an outstanding exposition on the simplicity and humility of a man who thought far ahead of his times but had absolutely no qualms about jumping out of his Mercedes to help push a taxi that had broken down in the middle of the road.

Such a great man was the late Mr. J.R.D. Tata, who pioneered civil aviation in India, a man who formed an engineering company 70 years ago that received encomiums from all over the world after the unveiling of the Nano in 2008, a man who rewarded an ageing liftman who had just stopped him from breaking the queue to enter his own lift in his own office, with a hundred-rupee note.

Interestingly, a few weeks after launching civil aviation in India (and in Asia), Mr. Tata gave a speech at the Rotary Club of Bombay when he foresaw the future, saying that a day would come when no one would think twice about travelling by air. Such a day was now just round the corner.

These and several other nuggets of information were shared by Mr. Tata's biographer, Mr. Russi Lala, while speaking at the last meeting on "The little things which made J.R.D. Tata great". Not surprisingly, a few others also stepped forward to narrate experiences that showed Mr. Tata as a concerned, caring and great human being.

Mr. Lala, whose first book, The Creation of Wealth - the Tata Story, was a bestseller, wrote many other books on the House of Tatas, including Beyond the Last Blue Mountain - A Life of J.R.D. Tata and The Romance of Tata Steel. His books have been translated into many languages, including Japanese.

A Director of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust for 18 years and co-founder of the Centre of Advancement of Philanthropy, Mr. Lala became its Chairman in 1993.

Surviving against cancer, he wrote a book Celebration of the Cells in the form of letters written to friend, also diagnosed with cancer. The book was a testament to how cancer could attack a man's body but could not conquer his soul.

He graduated with Honours in History from the University of Bombay and took to journalism at the age of 19. In 1951, he became a book publisher. A prolific writer, he has written many books and has had an outstanding career as editor, writer, publisher.

Mr. Lala started by mentioning some of Mr. Tata's outstanding achievements, such as launching civil aviation (when he was just 28 years old); and starting Air India, the first international airline in Asia, in 1948.

The moods of the great survivor - Mr. Russi Lala answering
questions at the conclusion of his talk at the last meeting.
With him is President Dr. Rumi Jehangir

During the War years, Mr. Tata had the vision to foresee the future. He said, "We must know what India will be like; we must have a strategy for India". Although very young (he was hardly 30), he called Mr. G.D. Birla, Mr. Purshottam Thakordas, Mr. Keshubhai Lalbhai and others and requested them to deliberate on what the future held for industry.

"That resulted in the Bombay Plan, which is the first capitalist plan ever made and is probably the last.

"As the War was ending, he told the British that America was introducing one ship a day and it was necessary for India to also learn modern techniques of production. He wanted an industrial delegation to go from India".

His suggestions were heeded by all.

After paying his father's debts, JRD came to live in a little room in the
Taj Mahal Hotel. This revelation came from Mr. Russi Lala at the last
meeting; he is seen with President Dr. Rumi Jehangir in the first
picture and with Mr. Noshir Dadrawala (philanthropist) and with
his wife Mrs Frenny Lala in the second

In those days, Mr. Lala said, there were parties almost every evening. But one person never attended them. When Mr. Tata asked him why, Mr. Suman Moolgaonkar said he had no time for parties; he visited the factories even at night to know about the pace of work. This struck a chord in Mr. Tata (Mr. Moolgaonkar went on to become a Director in Tata companies).

When the War ended and India's Independence became imminent, Mr. Tata sent a telegram to Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, wishing him well as India's first Prime Minister.

Throwing more light on the Tata- Nehru association (or the lack of it), Mr. Lala said Mr. Tata knew Mr. Nehru since 1924. By"an accident of history", Mr. Nehru.s father had stayed with Mr. Tata's father.

"Till the end, J.R.D. and Nehru were very good friends - but totally different in their viewpoints. Nehru had got the "socialist bug" and never consulted J.R.D. on economic affairs; J.R.D. felt very sad about this.

"On aviation, of course, Nehru respected and consulted J.R.D. (But came the day that brought nationalisation and 'the socialism'of insurance, aviation, banks and so on.)

"And J.R.D. found himself a Prometheus bound by the licence raj. Others found a way around it, they knew how to do it. (but not Mr. Tata).

Mr. Lala recalled that he had queried Mr. Tata in 1979 about the Tatas not growing as much as other companies over the previous 20 years. To which Mr. Tata replied, "I have often thought about it. We could have been twice as great as we are today had we done some of the things these companies have done".

Yet, despite his honest ways" or perhaps in spite of them "he managed to increase the strength of Tata companies from the 14 that he had inherited to 95 when he left" .You can imagine what he could have done otherwise. (had there been no licence raj).

In 1945, Mr. Tata conceived of a great engineering company to make locomotives; but it was a failure at first. Mr. Moolgaonkar even went to the extent of saying that it produced more general managers than locomotives, because nobody knew how to make locomotives.

After Mr. Moolgaonkar got into the act, he lifted Telco which went on to manufacture trucks and now cars.

But the point to remember was that Mr. Tata had visualised this great engineering company way back in 1945, although the world came to recognise it as one (a great engineering company) only now, in January, 2008 (when it unveiled the Nano).

"See how far ahead this man was; his thinking was 70 years ahead of his time".

Mr. Lala then turned to the man, J.R.D. Tata. A citizen of France (his father was a Parsi and his mother French), he was born in France and educated there, as also in Bombay and Yokohama; he was all set to go to Cambridge to do engineering, his favourite subject.

Just then, the government of France passed a law which said that all men aged above 18 would be conscripted for a year. Forced to join the army, he completed his service and was once again set on going to Cambridge, but his father summoned him to India.

An upset J.R.D. returned home and was put under the charge of "a very fine ICS officer", Mr. John Peterson, the head of Tata Steel. This man taught him all the intricacies of business according to the best British traditions.

Nine months later, his father died of a heart attack. And so, at the age of 22, Mr. J.R.D. Tata became Director of Tata Sons, inheriting the mantle of his father.

He also inherited his family and had to take care of four siblings, not an easy task for a young man of 22. He sold his house to pay the debts his father had run up and decided to live in the Taj Mahal Hotel, where he occupied a little room.

Soon after, he contracted typhoid. But that did not get him down. He would return from office to his little room at 6 o'clock, throw himself into his bed, pick up some business magazine and start reading. When his sister told him that he ought to rest, he told her, "No, I want to be worthy of the Tatas".

Mr. Lala recalled that in his last year, he had talked to Mr. Tata about his humility and simplicity and wondered whether"you would have been as modest and humble as you are today, had you become a doctor of Engineering from Cambridge?"

Mr. Tata took some time to reply, and when he did, this was what he said: "I think I would have been more so, because although I would have realised that I knew a lot about engineering, I would also have recognised that I knew so little of other subjects".

Such was his humility. The speaker then narrated an example of Mr. Tata's simplicity. He used to interview Mr. Tata at his home, mostly over the weekends. Most meetings were held in what Mr. Lala thought was Mr. Tata's study. It had two swivel chairs, two telephones, a book case, a sofa and a writing desk which was hardly used. And there was a bathroom.

But it was only two years after starting the interviews that somebody told Mr. Lala that the room in which they met was not Mr. Tata's study "it was his bedroom and study"

Mr. Tata had an enormous house but lived in the little study. When they met the next time, Mr. Lala said to him, "Sir, no industrialist of your standing would spend his whole time in a little room like this".

His reply was significant: "Why? It suffices me. I need no more". Mr. Lala revealed another littleknown facet of Mr. Tata's character, viz., his kindness. "Roda (his sister) told me that he was a very kind man. I didn't know him so well when she said it, but later I came to know".

The family of the Polish Consul- General in Bombay was well acquainted with Mr. Tata. When the husband died, Mr. Tata (who attended the funeral) walked up to his widow Keira.

He said to her,"You're not going to an empty home. You're coming with me to my home". He took her hand and brought her home.

JRD didn't care about being an economic superpower -he wanted India to be a happy country

Similarly, his assistant Robert once found himself at a loose end, torn about where to go and what to do after his family migrated to Canada. When Mr. Tata learnt of his plight, he called Robert and said to him, "Robert, I hear you.ve got a problem about immigration".

He then said: "Why didn't you come to me? Why don't you use me while I'm still here?"

Mr. Lala said even he had been a recipient of Mr. Tata's kindness. When he contracted cancer in 1989, the chemotherapy that was given to him caused a painful reaction. (In those days, there was no antidote, no targeting of the site of cancer; the chemotherapy simply killed all the cells that it could get hold of.)

Mr. Tata helped him go to the USA for consultation. By sheer coincidence, he and Mr. Tata were in the same hotel on the evening before Mr. Lala was to see a doctor at Sloan- Kettering Hospital. Mr. Tata called him for tea and said, "Russi, I wish they would stop your chemotherapy ".

Next morning, Mr. Lala and his wife went to see the doctor and, to their utter surprise, that was exactly what the doctor said: "It's time to stop it (chemotherapy) now. Let your body fight it, because the glands are soft".

When Mr. Tata learnt of it that night, he said, "Russi, you don.t know how happy you have made me today".

After Mr. Tata died, Mr. Lala, while talking to Mr. Ratan Tata, commented, "I don't miss him as my Chairman, but I miss his affection .. And Mr. Ratan Tata replied: "So do ".

Mr. Tata had said 20 years before he passed away that to lead men one had to lead them with affection. And he practised what he preached.

At a felicitation function organised by the Tatas on the NCPA grounds after he was bestowed with the title of Bharat Ratna, Mr. Tata concluded with these words:

"I hear an American economist foresees that in the next century (this one), India will be an economic superpower. I don't want India to be an economic superpower. I want India to be a happy country... That was J.R.D.., Mr. Lala concluded.

PDG Manibhai Doshi rose to say that he knew Mr. Tata as they were neighbours in Japan. When a book on his speeches at Rotary Clubs was published, he wrote to Mr. Tata, congratulating him and seeking a meeting. But his assistant said Mr. Tata was busy. Manibhai wrote again, saying, "You are in Rotary because you are a busy man".

Mr. Tata called immediately and on not finding him home, said he would call back. When his daughter said "My father will call you", Mr. Tata replied, "No, he's my Governor, I'll call hi". He called the next day and invited the Doshis for a meeting.

"That was the greatness of the man JRD," Manibhai concluded.

At this, Mr. Lala recollected that he had edited the said book, Keynote, which was praised by one and all. But Mr. Tata had said, "Why are you boring people with my speeches? Why are you doing this?" In fact, he wrote in the preface, "I don't know why innocent people should be inflicted with this torture".

One day, a school Principal from Kolhapur wrote to Mr. Tata, saying that it was an awful book and should never have been published. Mr. Tata sent the letter to Mr. Lala with the comment, "At last, a man of judgement!"

Pankaj Baliga, Vice-President with TCS, said it was during Mr. Tata's time that Tata Consulting Services was formed in 1968. There were just a handful of IT companies in the world at that time. Today, TCS had a market capitalisation that was slightly less than half that of the Tata Group.s market cap.

Interestingly, while TCS was formed in 1968, the next IT company in India came up only in the mid-1980's, Pankaj added.

Sitaram Shah wondered whether Mr. Tata would have been happy with all that was happening in the economic field, where India seemed to be aping the West.

Mr. Lala pointed out that Mr. Tata had everything and yet he had nothing. He worked till late in the evening and when the secretaries suggested that he retire for the day, it was actually they who wanted to go home.

As for Mr. Tata, he would say, "What have I got to go home to? There are no children, no grandchildren, just a dog and a wife and a wheelchair".

He had no children. And yet, he gave a lot of happiness to everybody. For, he gave his heart to everybody; everybody was his child.

"In India, we've got to learn the gift that he had "that we have to find our own happiness"I agree that we are not a happy country. I agree some people are better off financially, but we have not learnt to share what we have.

"He formed a trust when he was 40 with Tata Sons shares and other shares. How many people would want to give away what they have? He did his bit in his time, it's for us to do it in our time," Mr. Lala summed up"

President Dr. Rumi, who introduced the guest speaker, also narrated a few stories to throw more light on Mr. J.R.D. Tata.

Once, Mr. Tata entered Bombay House when the main lift was out of order. He had to use the side entrance. As soon as the lift doors opened, he quickly walked in, breaking the queue. The elderly liftman reprimanded him and said, "Line ma aavo". Mr. Tata immediately backed off, went to the end of the queue and got in only after everybody else had done so.

There was a stunned silence in the lift. The moment Mr. Tata went out of the lift, the staff members descended on the liftman and gave him hell, berating him for not recognising Mr. Tata. The man said he had not seen his face, hence he had not recognised him.

Soon, the news spread in the Tata headquarters (Bombay House). And within half an hour the liftman was called to Mr. Tata's chambers. The man was petrified. He went up but Mr. Tata made him sit down, gave him a cup of tea, complimented him on doing his duty diligently and gave him Rs. 100.

On another day, a taxi got stuck on Altamount Road and its two women passengers were helping push it. Just then, an elderly gentleman got down from a Mercedes and gave them a helping hand."That was our Honorary Rotarian, the late Mr. J.R.D. Tata,"Rumi added.

The vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Sam Mahaluxmivala.