Tata old friend
The first time I admired an engineered product from India was in 1977. Most of Haryana and western UP was submerged in waist deep water. As students from Stephens we volunteered to distribute food packets to those marooned along with tablets to purify water. We were bused to points where Tata trucks stood. We climbed at the back like laborers, perched on the side as it went past flooded roads, pushing a large wave of water ahead. The drivers were experts , they had points where they would stop where we would get off, wade on water and get into boats that got to marooned villages. We had the same roti and aloo subji. But I looked at the truck, built like a rock and said wow..
The place where I did my undergraduate engineering course was called Tata Institute, founded by Jamshedji Tata - a place where excellence and thought leadership was carried forth as though it was all but natural. Like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Indian Institute of Science, Tata Steel and Tata Motors, building national icons seemed just par for the course for the house of Tatas. My education in engineering was in the early 80s. A revolution in how educated India would work was quietly underway. The best from BE Electronics and Electrical were getting absorbed in Tata Burroughs Limited, a company that pioneered a career in software and coding - with engineers stationed in India or overseas coding and making the world run. Ah it is Cobol some would remark, But it was a new way to live, thrown into challenges at work, exposed to new cultures and new norms. Educated Indians took naturally to such challenges. Many others followed. I started hearing of new towns like Culpeper and Charlottesville.
It was still the 1980s right? A third world nation eagerly trying to fit in. While we applauded ourselves in cutting it, there were others among us dreaming bigger,. Cut to 2000, and Tata looked as big as one of the businesses of GE - a $12 billion business. Wow we said. While GE was priding itself in having one of the largest R&D centers in the world, A JV with Tata gave great design engineers. While new MNCs occupied an entire floor TCS was having much larger office spaces. Advanced computers were sold by Tata Elxsi, our guests stayed in the Taj Westend or Vivanta - hotels that remained peerless in levels of service class and comfort.
Engineering companies like GE were taking pride in building world class teams in India. While we were marveling at what was getting accomplished, Tata gave graduate courses in Audacity. Tata tea, the benevolent owners of large tea estates bought Teltley. Tata Steel, which was one of the largest steel mills in the world bought Corus. While Tata Motors had Land Rover and Jaguar under its belt. Its 2000 launch of Indica sounded like a math problem - more car per car. The ambassadors got replaced by Indica and Indigo. While they were not a Honda by any stretch, the logged in the miles - the tax driver who took me to the airport after India beat Sri Lanka in the world cup had already clocked 400,000 on his Indigo. While we had our symposium on how the best technologies could be harnessed for India, we had a Tata Nano test drive - meant to get Indians to get off their unsafe scooters and take their families in a Nano. Two decades into my career, our daughter makes it to UK. The Paddington express from Heathrow had TCS written all over it.
My first and only visit to the house of Tata was to meet a friend and mentor Gopi Katragadda. A small non descript building in a busy street replete with hawkers, with an Indie accompanying in the lift told me a story of inclusiveness and humility. Yes we know about the trusts and charity that have stemmed from this house. Of audacity and scale and span coming from the house of Tatas. Their son made much of this happen has moved on.
I write this blogged more moved by his passing than any public figure I have known.
Tata - to our icon.
