Ratan Tata, As I Knew Him

Ratan was extremely ethical in his dealings, which he brought to bear on the business house which he helmed, remembers Sailesh Kottary.

Quite a few among those who knew Ratan Tata well, or worked closely with him, will fail to rank him as perhaps the most unforgettable character they had ever come across.

To me he certainly was. Why, you may ask.

His professional life, apart from quantification in terms of statistics, could be measured in its deep qualities.

Because, unlike other well-heeled people, simplicity defined his life.

Here is one example: I have had the privilege of knowing many top-flight industrialists across the years I have been in business journalism, but I have yet to meet any business leader who would answer the phone if you called their residence.

They all had butlers or a secretariat at home to field the instrument. But Ratan always answered the publicly listed phone at his home whenever it rang.

That was a defining trait.

What makes it all the more remarkable was that Ratan grew up in a veritable palace -- Tata Palace -- across Bombay Gymkhana, and was driven to school by a British driver in a Rolls Royce!

It would have been easy to naturally slip into the luxuries of life, given the circumstances.

His years in college in the US shaped his egalitarian outlook.

Hence even though Tata Sons rebuilt the bungalow occupied by J R D Tata on Anstey Road for the group chairman, Ratan never occupied it.

During all his years in office, his house was a simple two-bedroom flat at Bakhtawar Apartments in Colaba.

Apart from an expensive Bose sound system, there was no sign of any luxurious fitments there.

At one time, there even was a broken lampshade, which got fixed when I pointed it out!

Unlike other industrialists who had flunkies carry their baggage and broke through queues to declare their VVIP status as it were, Ratan always stood in queues in airports and carried his baggage.

Interestingly, when he was chairman of Air India in the mid-1980s, he was allowed to take a car to the plane on the tarmac. He always refused.

He was, however, amused to see one of his directors, who also served on the board of Air India, do this routinely!

Ratan was always immaculately dressed in sharp suits during working hours. But unlike his peers, he never sourced them from Saville Row or Italian couturiers.

When asked where he got his bespoke suits made, he once told me disarmingly that they were stitched by his local Colaba tailor!

Ratan was also extremely ethical in his dealings, which he brought to bear on the business house which he helmed.

The Tata group was the first business house to publish a Code of Conduct for its executives; and Ratan stood by it.

Everybody knew that Ratan was keenly interested to get the Tatas back into aviation, but his group's application for a license was withheld for many years due to the influence of a business rival on the civil aviation ministry.

Yet, when many offers came from political intermediaries to gift funds to the right sources and get the license cleared expeditiously, he refused.

That ethical stand may have cost his group many years of downtime -- and frustrations -- but that was Ratan and his belief system.

That belief in ethics was paramount and he did not spare even close associates.

When his blue-eyed financial advisor Dilip Pendse, who headed Tata Finance, was found to have done major investments in a company with whom he allegedly had links without informing his board, not only was he sacked, but criminal charges were filed against Pendse.

Such a commitment to ethics led to incredible situations.

Once when dining with Ratan and the president of a media group at the Taj's epicurean restaurant Zodiac Grill, the media magnate was stunned to see our waiter present his chairman the bill!

Ratan matter-of-factly paid it with his credit card.

When the media czar told Ratan that he had never seen any other hotel chain present a bill to any of its top executives, let alone its chairman, Ratan exclaimed, "How else will you set standards in a corporate? You have to lead by example..."

Ratan's induction as Chairman of Tata Sons by J R D Tata in 1991 led to his baptism by fire experience.

The knives were out for him from within the group. He was an outlier of a choice and the Tata Steel honcho Russi Mody had been expected to be a shoo-in.

Another Tata titan, Darbari Seth of Tata Chemicals, was also in the wings. An equally ambitious Ajit Kerkar who had built the Taj group, had another game plan.

Those early years of his incumbency were nerve wracking for Ratan; he was jousting as it were with three of his generals who were determined to prove him a failure.

Ratan being reticent and temperamentally shy did not help with his public image vis-a-vis the ebullient Russi Mody or the quietly efficient and formidable Darbari Seth.

The games they played proved to be emotionally draining for Ratan, as he was constantly grappling with how to deal with the curveballs they would throw.

I did spend many evenings with him in hearing him discuss strategies on besting them and in countering their fissiparous plans.

His advisor in many such situations was the corporate Samurai and his childhood friend Nusli Wadia.

The two other occasions I saw him saddened was when he lost his dog Tito and when the terrorists burnt the Taj Mahal Palace and Hotel during the 26/11 attack.

Deeply moved as he saw the flames engulf the hotel's dome, he told me, later, "I spent a large part of my childhood in this hotel...it was my home for many years."

If his concern for canines was well documented, so was his concern for humans.

Every time I dined with him at a restaurant, some time after we had settled in, Ratan would be handed the keys to his car by the manager of the eatery.

When I inquired what this was all about, Ratan told me that he did not like to extend the working hours of his drivers as they all had families and they ought to be home in time to be with their children.

Hence he preferred to drive home after dinner himself.

Such endearing traits made Ratan truly iconic.

• FAREWELL, Mr TATA

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com