#32 JRD Tata - The Man of Contributions for India!

The Tata surname is said to have been derived from the Gujarati word 'tamta' or 'teekha' which means spicy or very angry and in fact most of the people who have held the highest positions in the Tata family have been known for their temper.

Jamsetji Tata

There is a famous anecdote about Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata family and JRD Tata's uncle, that once he took an English friend to a hotel in Mumbai for dinner, the porter standing at the hotel door said, 'We welcome your friend but we can't let you inside the hotel because this hotel is only for Europeans.' The same evening Jamsetji decided that he would build a hotel that would be the pride of India and where tourists from all over the world would come, thus in 1903 the Taj Mahal Hotel emerged in front of the Bombay harbour.

Jeh

Jeh

JRD Tata's father RD Tata who was Jamsetji Tata's cousin and JRD was called 'Jeh' by his close people. JRD's mother was French, so French was spoken in his house. JRD had a passion for flying since childhood, he was the first Indian to get a pilot's license to fly an Aircraft.

JRD’s Pilot License

R.M. Lala writes in JRD's biography 'Beyond the Last Blue Mountain' -

'In the November 19, 1929 issue of the London Times, an advertisement was published on behalf of Agah, in which it was said that the Indian who would travel alone from England to India or from India to England by air would be given a reward of 500 pounds. Tata accepted this challenge but he was defeated in this match by Air Marshal Aspy Engineer who later became the Chief of Air Force of India.'

On October 15, 1932, JRD took airmail from Karachi Airport to Ahmadabad and onward to Bombay. Tata later told his biographer RM Lala - ‘We had no navigational aids to help us in the air or in the ground, nor did we had radios - there was not even an airport in Bombay, we had to fly over the flat terrain of Juhu. Whenever the weather was extremely bad, we used to fly the plane to Poona and land it in the Yerdwada jail premises. When we started the Tata Airlines, we had 2 planes, 3 pilots and 3 mechanics.

JRD's Driving & Rage

JRD was also fond of driving cars at high speed, probably because of this he met his future wife Thally (Thelma Vicaji Tata), as happened that he had an accident on Pedder road in his blue Bugatti car and the police registered a case against him. To avoid this, he went to Bombay's top criminal lawyer, Jack Vicaji, where he met Vicaji's niece Thally, after some time both of them got married.

JRD & Thally.

JRD and Thally went to Darjeeling for their honeymoon and that too in winter, on the day they were coming back by car, Sir Stanley Jackson, the Governor of Bengal was also returning to Calcutta by car, when his convoy of cars was about to pass, the police stopped Tata.

Girish Kuber writes in his book 'The Tatas : How a family built a business and a Nation' - JRD's car was stopped for more than an hour even though it was very cold that day, he and his wife planned to protest against it. As soon as the governor's car reached there, Thally stood in front of it, JRD reaching the governor's car window, he shouted - 'What do you think you are that you have stopped 500 people, women and children for an hour in such a terrible cold, you damn fool.'

A Charming Man

Beautiful Thally's life revolved around her husband but JRD's interest in other women was always there, even at the age of 80, if any beautiful face was seen around him, Jeh's eyes used to shine.

Zareer Masani, son of a famous leader Meenu Masani, writes in his autobiography 'And all is said : Memoir of the Home Divided' - My parents lived near the Tata couple's house and Meenu worked as Tata's executive assistant. JRD's marriage was not happy, he was not faithful to his wife, because of his French personality and accent, many beautiful women were attracted to him, later I came to know that one of them was my mother, but despite this, JRD never thought of leaving his wife.

Always a Gentleman

At the age of just 34, Jeh was handed over the responsibility of the entire Tata group, many stories of JRD's taking care of his employees are famous - Sudha Murthy, wife of Infosys Chief Narayana Murthy, says that after graduating from IISc, she saw a job advertisement for an engineer’s post in Tata's TELCO company in which it was written that only male engineers could apply for the post, Sudha immediately wrote a postcard to JRD in which he called this advertisement antiquated.

JRD immediately intervened and she was not only telegraphed for an interview but also became the first woman engineer to work on the Tata shop floor.

One day after 8 years, she fell in front of JRD on the stairs of Bombay House, JRD was worried that she was alone and her husband did not come to pick her up and it was getting late, till then JRD would stand with her and talk to her and stayed until her husband Narayana Murthy came to pick her up. To show her respect for Tata, Sudha Murthy still keeps Tata's picture in her office.

JRD is also famous for his simplicity, Harish Bhatt writes in his book 'Tata People' - 'Many a times, on his way to his office, he used to give lift in his car to his employees waiting for the bus at the bus stop.'

After India's Independence, JRD had very high dreams for India. Socially, he was very close to the Nehru-Gandhi family but had strong objections to their socio-economic model.

Air India's Legacy

In August 1953, the government nationalized all 9 private airlines and merged them into Air India. Jeh was very shocked by this but it was a matter of honor that he was appointed the Chairman of Air India.

Jeh's interest in his work as the Chairman of Air India was so much that he himself used to pick up the curtains of the airlines.

Girish Kuber writes - 'Once he wrote a letter to K.C. Bakhle, Managing Director of Air India - If you serve beer with high alcohol content, then the stomach becomes heavy, so serve light beer, I have noted that the chairs in our planes does not recline well, please get them fixed, also make sure all the lights of the aircraft are on when the food is served so that our cutlery shines well in their light.'

They knew that they could not compete with foreign airlines in terms of spending money, so their emphasis was always on service and punctuality.

Nari Dastur, who was the regional director of Air India in Europe used to narrate an interesting story about this - 'In those days, Air India's flight used to land in Geneva at 11 o'clock in the day, once I heard a Swiss man asking the time, the Swiss looking outside the window replied it's 11 o'clock, the first person asked how do you know, you didn't even look at the clock, the answer came, the Air India plane has just landed.'

Good Friends

Jeh and his wife were invited to Allahabad (now Prayagraj) by his father Jawaharlal Nehru for Indira Gandhi's wedding, initially Indira Gandhi liked him but as she started leaning towards socialism, there was a distance between her and Jeh. Later whenever JRD used to visit her, she would either look out of the window or open her mail. He may have been ideologically opposed to Indira Gandhi, but she always allowed Jeh to be associated with Air India.

He was fired from Air India by Morarji Desai, who became Prime Minister after Indira Gandhi, without any prior information about this, he got he news from Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal, who was made the chairman of Air India in his place. At that time, Air India's Managing Director K.G. Appusamy and his no. 2 Nari Dastur resigned in protest against the government along with Tata.

Once his biographer RM Lala asked him what was his biggest contribution to the economic affairs of India? So his answer was - 'I do not think that I had made any special contribution to the economy of India except moral values, I believe that moral life is a part of economic life.'

Renowned economist TN Narayanan also says - 'Tata group may have compromised on values once in a while because it is not that easy to work with complete honesty under the present laws of India, but broadly Tata group has followed ethical values and has done their work without leaving it.'

Tata loved his books, poetry, flowers and paintings throughout his life, he was very interested in History, especially Greek, Roman and French history surrounding Napoleon.

He was a close friend of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, both used to write letters to each other but Kissinger never visited India during Tata's lifetime. Remembering JRD Tata, he said - 'I have met many people on the International stage but I have found very few people to match JRD.'

Jacques Chirac.

Jacques Chirac, who was once the President of France, was also a friend of JRD and used to consult him on many personal matters.

Jeh had a very sharp memory, he had no children of his own. 

Girish Kuber writes - 'Once he was asked if you ever felt the lack of not having an heir who can carry your legacy after you, Jeh replied - 'I love children but I never saw any son or daughter as my successor.'

JRD with Ratan Tata.

JRD Tata was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour and the Legion-of-Honor, France's highest civilian honor. When Ratan Tata informed him that he had been selected for the Bharat Ratna, Jeh's quick comment was - 'Oh my God, why me, can't we do anything to stop this? It is true that I have done some good things, have given civil aviation to the country, increased its industrial production, but so what, any one would have done this for his country.'

To be a leader, you’ve got to lead human beings with affection. ~ JRD Tata