New Delhi: It was someday in early August 1998 after I first met Ratan Tata in Mumbai. He was with a bunch of different businessmen at an occasion and I went as much as him and launched myself.
Tata smiled and shook arms nevertheless it was fairly clear that he was not snug speaking to a journalist. I requested him to provide me time each time he was free and he shared the variety of his workplace at Bombay Home, the company headquarters of the Tatas. I used to be requested to talk to a selected particular person after which take it ahead from there.
I used to be fairly sure that this may result in nothing however known as up the quantity the next day solely to be instructed that Tata was not accessible. I left my contact particulars — one of many few direct traces in our newsroom as there have been no cellphones then — and later questioned why I had even bothered to take action. There was no means on earth the Tata Group Chairman was going to name me.
Later the identical night, the cellphone rang and a colleague answered it. It was nearing deadline hour and as she impatiently requested who it was on the different finish, I might see her beckoning to me furiously. “It’s Ratan Tata for you,” she just about gasped. As I nervously stated hiya, there was no mistaking the calm tone of the person who was the tallest chief of India Inc.
Breaking the ice
“Hello Murali, that is Ratan Tata. Why do not we meet on August 20 at Bombay Home? Would 1 pm give you the results you want?” I used to be actually leaping for pleasure however simply managed to say, “Sure, Mr Tata, that will be completely tremendous. Thanks a lot…actually wanting ahead to this.” He stated goodbye and I continued to stare on the cellphone for eternity! To suppose I had simply spoken to Ratan Tata!
Got here the day and the hour as my Editor and I walked throughout to Bombay Home and have been ushered into his room. He was the epitome of dignity as he greeted us. It was clearly understood that this was an off-the-record dialog and he spoke about automobiles and why it was necessary for the corporate to be a part of this enterprise.
There have been different matters of debate and I used to be significantly fascinated by the truth that right here was a fellow southpaw! Being on the receiving finish of ridicule for being a left hander in my early years, it was reassuring to see that the Tata Group Chairman was one too!
I bumped into Ratan Tata on a number of events thereafter and appraised him on my shift in jobs within the journalistic house. Think about how delighted I used to be to get letters from him, with that inimitable signature scrawled on the backside, wishing me the very best in every of those assignments.
The following assembly
It was in end-2005 when the Tata INR 1-lakh automobile was making information and I reached out to his workplace as soon as once more searching for an interview for the journal I used to be modifying then. The concept was to have a canopy story come out across the time of the 2006 Delhi Auto Expo in January. When the decision got here by confirming his availability for the interview, I used to be as soon as once more on cloud 9!
The venue this time was the Santa Cruz airport lounge for personal plane and I later learnt that Ratan Tata had given time within the midst of his vacation break. My photographer and I have been effectively earlier than the scheduled hour together with a senior consultant of the company dealing with the Tata account. We later learnt that Ratan Tata had piloted the plane himself and as he got here into the lounge, there was as soon as once more this sense of nervous pleasure and butterflies fluttering within the abdomen.
Now, this will appear odd and even infantile for a enterprise journalist who consistently meets lots of people however the distinction with Ratan Tata was his aura. Even my photographer was a trite anxious whereas the Chairman patiently posed for footage earlier than the interview started. I used to be, in the meantime, trying out one million occasions to see if my tape recorder was working — there was simply no means we might afford a glitch.
As Tata sat down within the room assigned for the interview, he first requested his driver to have his lunch. He then thanked the stewards who served us sandwiches and reminded them to eat on time too. He instructed me that he had a dental appointment later that afternoon and we might discuss comfortably until then. I bear in mind this was all occurring in early January.
Simplicity and humility
And boy was it the interview of a lifetime! Tata spoke about his dream for the INR 1 lakh automobile and why it was so necessary to provide inexpensive and secure mobility to the lots. He additionally dwelt upon a bunch of different points together with the advertising and marketing alliance with Fiat which was to be formally introduced on the Auto Expo.
The interview lasted a few hours and as Tata bade us goodbye, your entire group was actually in a state of disbelief. A whole lot of it needed to do with the way in which he carried his energy and stature so comfortably whereas going out of the way in which to make sure that the folks round didn’t really feel stifled in consequence. On that day, I noticed a person who exemplified humility and empathy with no fuss — it was an enormous lesson imparted within the course of.
It additionally jogged my memory of a well-known line from a Hindi movie, Bawarchi, launched means again in 1972 the place the lead actor has this message for quarelling members of a family: “It’s so easy to be blissful however so troublesome to be easy.” Ratan Tata’s simplicity on that day, likewise, was the largest takeaway for me.
Fiat CEO’s personal recollections
Some months later, I met Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat, and requested him what it was prefer to have an alliance with the Tata group. “One of many nice issues that I discovered about Tatas is the imaginative and prescient and dedication they should nation constructing in India which someway the remainder of the world has forgotten,” he stated.
This, in response to the Fiat CEO, was an necessary problem for all industrial gamers internationally and “the power to mix that dedication as a part of a imaginative and prescient with the need to be a powerful and recognised world participant is a really fascinating act”.
As Marchionne added, “What I discovered in Ratan Tata is the knowledge to try to handle each aims with the magnificence and smoothness that solely comes about with a results of acquired statesmanship. It’s a pleasure for me to work with him as a result of we’ve got by no means had a disagreement. Certain, we’ve got had variations of view which have been shortly reconciled however by no means a basic disagreement.”
Associates first, businessmen second
He went on to say, “There are occasions I focus on the weirdest issues with Ratan however that’s the means we’re; we’re pals first and businessmen second. I’ve loads of respect for him and do see his group being one of many pillars of worldwide growth of Fiat by serving to us right here. Relationships of that calibre require time to mature. We don’t rush into them and I anticipate much more from the Tatas sooner or later the place we might even take a look at choices past automobiles.”
Despite the fact that nothing a lot got here out of this partnership, it was clear that Ratan Tata was held in excessive esteem by his world counterparts within the vehicle business. Marchionne, by the way, handed away in 2018 at simply 66 and he and others like Carlos Ghosn, the previous CEO of Renault-Nissan, had loads of respect for Ratan Tata.
Along with his passing, it additionally marks the top of an period of distinctive leaders who have been a part of the old-fashioned in chivalry and style. The final three years have seen the departure of three huge names within the auto enviornment. First, it was Rahul Bajaj in February 2022, adopted by Keshub Mahindra the next 12 months in April and now Ratan Tata in October 2024. Tall leaders who have been the personification of sophistication, energy and honesty. They have been actually in a league of their very own.
