'He Was Always The Same Old Ratan'

'Ratan had the quality that JRD and Russi Mody had -- they could walk with kings and never lose the common touch.'

"The Tata value is to respect human beings and people, especially the blue collar workers. They may not live like you or talk your language, but they built the country. Ratan brought that out to the fore," Arun Maira who worked for 25 years with the Tata group shares his memories about his friend and colleague with Rediff.com's Archana Masih.

• Part 1 of the Interview: 'Ratan and I Were Good Chums'
• Part 2 of the Interview: Ratan Tata's Biggest Contribution To Management Theory

Ratan's lasting legacy was bringing the Tata Group back to its roots.

The Tatas began as a manufacturing enterprise. They started a steel plant when the British believed Indians were not good enough to do so.

There was an idiotic statement made by a senior British official that if India ever made steel, he would eat every pound of steel rail produced by Tata Steel. Of course, as we know, Tata Steel became a very successful company, and bought British Steel much later.

Similarly, Telco started making trucks and buses for the first time for any developing country, and by the late 1970s, Tata trucks were exported around the world.

It is a forgotten story that India was doing great things before 1991. We need to do those great things now. We need to build a strong manufacturing base. The way to do it is to enable people to learn, create an environment and support systems to make a learning enterprise -- a Learning Factory.

The stories in my book, The Learning Factory are all about that time. They talk about the need to respect workers, not because they bring their hands to the factory, but because they are human beings with aspirations. They want to learn to make something of their lives.

This was J R D Tata's personal contribution. When he was ill at one time, he used the time to write an HR manual for all Tata companies. Tata Steel provided provident fund even before India became Independent, and even before the British did.

The Tata value is to respect human beings and people, especially the blue collar workers. They may not live like you or talk your language, but they built the country. Ratan brought that out to the fore.

What is happening in manufacturing today is that companies are using contract labour and do not want to take on the burden of training workers. They say that the government should do the skilling.

This is not what India needs today. India needs to invest in its own people and companies. Our workers are the ones who will make us world leaders like with the trucks in Telco and Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals.

It's people who innovated and discovered new ways of doing things with very frugal resources. That is the genius of Tata and the genius that India needs.

Ratan went back to that and one example of that is the Tata Indica story and before that the truck/bus story which was already well established around the world.

I feel sad when people make it sound as if we were in the Dark Ages before 1991. We must not lose sight of our foundation. If we don't respect your own greatness, we will never become a great country.

Ratan had the quality that JRD and Russi Mody had -- they could walk with kings and never lose the common touch -- in keeping with the famous line from Rudyard Kipling's poem If.

Russi Modi could be having the best cheese, but would be working in his pajamas at Tata Steel. He would sit down with the workers and eat their puris in the canteen. JRD had the same quality with a different style and Ratan had that too in his own quiet style.

All of them could walk with kings and hadn't lost their common touch.

In my book Learning Factory, I mention a speech given by Sumant Moolgaokar [the man who established Tata Motors] in Jamshedpur when he was presented with the Gandhi Peace Mddal for industrial harmony and peace. He was not one to make long speeches and what he said just went to the heart.

Mr Moolgaokar said there is an innate desire in every human being, man or woman, to make something better of themselves and to be treated with respect.

He went on to say that the workers of Telco and Tatas will make it a world admired company, and one gains global admiration not by valuations, but the expression of values within your own organisation.

In the later years, I remember I was asked to come to Goa for the Tata Group's annual gathering and I was asked to speak about building a human enterprise.

Ratan did invite me also to his home in Colaba while I was visiting from America. I would call to meet him on my visits to India. He lived in a flat and had a dog. He did not drink and made sure I had a drink. A man staff would make sure that we were comfortable.

We would joke about old times.

Sometimes we would go for a quiet meal to the Taj.

He was always the same old Ratan. His passing is a personal loss.

• FAREWELL, Mr TATA

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com