Essays

"Not excellence; perfection! you aim perfection, you will attain excellence, if you aim for excellence, you will go lower." These words were once littered by the great JRD Tata in an interview, which encapsulate his life most befit tingly.

Jahangirji Ratanji Dadabhai Tata, was born on July 29. 1904 in Paris. He was the second child of Ratanji Dddabhai Tata. He spent much of his childhood in France since his mother was a French woman. His schooling was completed in Paris, Bombay and Yokohama. In order to improve his English before going to Cambridge, he was sent to an English Grammar School. According to JRD, his mother was a very resourceful, intelligent and adaptable lady who with five children, single-handedly, packed up her household items in France and came to India to be with her husband, who was engaged in founding the House of Tatas. As she frequented her home country every year or two. JRD's education was regularly disrupted.

Louis Bleriot, the first man to fly across the English Channel, had a house on the coast of France near the Tata's country home. Bleriot's, who used to land on a small place on the beach, once gave JRD a joyride. It was then that the fifteen-year-old boy decided that one day he too would fly. He had to wait ten years for it to happen. After school, he was drafted for a year into the French army and assigned to a Regiment in France called Le Saphis. At the end of his term there, he expected to go to Cambridge where a place was reserved for him but his father summoned him back to India to join the Tatas. His father must have had a premoniton, for he died nine months later and JRD took his place as the Director of Tata Sons/ at the age of 21. He inherited most of his grandfather Jamshedji's Industrial Empire but first became a pioneer in aviation. After his father's death in 1936, JRD became the Director of the Board of Tata Sons Ltd. Though he missed his college education^ he undertook his own education after office hours, studying books on various aspects of business. When he was in his early twenties, while recovering from typhoid, his sister would come to his room to find him in bed, and studying. When his sister Rodabeh pleaded, "Why don't you rest Jeh, you are tired and unwell', JRD replied want to be worthy of Tatas'.

Flying was a passion with JRD. He was the first one to qualify within India to fly. He got his license, which bore on it number 1, on 10 February 1929. In 1930, the Aga Khan Trophy was offered for the first Indian to fly solo from India to England or vice versa. JRD competed, taking off from Karachi to London. When he landed at Aboukir Bay in Egypt, he found that Aspy Engineer, the other contender flying from London to Karachi, was stranded in the desert airfield for want of a spark plug! JRD sportingly parted with his spare one and they continued their journey in opposite directions. Aspy beat him by a couple of hours! am glad he won' said JRD, because it helped him get into the Royal Indian Air Force. Later Aspy was to be the second Indian to be the Chief of the Indian Air Force. In 1948, JRD went on to start Air India International. Within ten years, he was the President of International Air Transport Association (IATA). Though the airline was nationalized in 1953, he remained at the helm of Air India till 1978, making it one of the most efficient airlines in the world.

In 1938, at the age of thirty-four, he was the chairman of the largest industrial group in India, which he led with distinction for fifty-two years. Under his leadership, Tata Sons expanded into one of the largest industrial empires in the country from ironworks and steelworks into chemicals, hotels, engineering and lot of other industries. In 1945, Tata steel promoted the Tata Engineering and ' Locomotive Company (TELCO) with an objective to produce locomotives for the Indian Railways. Today, Telco has emerged as the country's largest commercial vehicle producer. JRD Tata was the first Indian pilot to qualify for a British private license. He founded Tata Airlines in 1932 and by 1953, it developed and came to be known as the Indian Airlines. Just before India's independence, his contribution to the growth of the Indian industry earned him the title of "Grandfather of Indian Industry,"

His innovations in India's fledgling hotel and tourism industry as well as his contributions to scientific and technical research and corporate management gained recognition from the Indian Government. He was honoured by India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1991 and United Nations Population Award. In 1991, at the age of 87, Tata retired from Tata Sons. He passed away on November 29, 1993.