The Timeless Tatas

I was in my hometown, Rourkela to see the extravaganza of Durga Puja when I read about the demise of Ratan N Tata exactly a week back. It was a co-incidence to be in Rourkela at this time as my journey with the Tata name had started from there. I remembered, when we woke up to the fact that we are born and brought up in Rourkela, we realised there is a neighborhood town called Jamshedpur, they call it Tatanagar also, some four hours away which also has a steel plant like the one in my hometown. It was April, 1992 and I was to travel to AFSB, Varanasi to appear for SSB after I cleared the written exam of NDA. You don't get confirmed train tickets in summers, so I had to travel general class. I had to catch Neelachal Express in the evening from Tatanagar. So, I took the morning train to Tatanagar and reached there in the afternoon. At some 17 years, away from cuddling hometown, going for a tough test - amidst all these it was my first brush with the name Tata, which would be a guiding light for me in the years to come.

Then destiny took me to engineering, In the final year of engineering, the first 'mass' recruitment was happening from Tata Consultancy Services, thanks to the then ubiquitous Y2K problem. Though I didn't appear for their test as I wasn't interested for a IT job, I appeared for the best placement opportunity then - Telco, now Tata Motors. But, I wasn't selected in the final round. That was a disappointment. Then, I got an opportunity to appear for Tata Refractories, a Tata Steel company, which I got through finally. Getting through a campus-recruitment process was a special experience.

It was September 1997 when I took my bag and baggage to the small town of Belpahar some 150 km away from Rourkela to join TRL as a Senior Officer (Graduate Trainee). And it was a nice experience to be in the beautiful and leafy campus on one side of the town and the well-maintained plant on the other. Our GT hostel was our den to relax, enjoy the common TV time, the large dining hall and all. It was a joy playing badminton, billiards or catch up with some books in the library in the vast Officers' Club. I was in awe of the institutions-building approach of TATAs. And, in two odd years, we were pretty used to the Tata way of doing business - the good corporate approach albeit a bit slow, I thought. We got exposed to the best of the training and knowledge through many programs and the officers' dialog. While we slowly adjusted to the life there, we were anxious to move on to our next journey of joining a management institute or so. By the late 1990s, the effect of the liberalised economy pushed in 1991 was well into play.

I moved to Delhi and after my second stint the first institute that I got a call for a management degree was IISc, Bangalore. They call it the Tata Institute there. Though I couldn't make it in the final round and settled for my post-graduate management course in NCR in between two jobs and then got an opportunity to be in Mumbai and there I was. After the first stint in Mumbai, I got an opportunity to join metaljunction (now mjunction), another Tata Steel company. And, before I realised, it was almost six years of a wonderful stint. I went on a business development spree, enjoyed the new-age innovation through e-commerce and the best part of my job was to be close to the hallowed headquarters of Tata Group - Bombay House.

The first time I went there, it was a surreal experience. The busts of JNT and JRD - the iconic chairmen adorn the reception and staircases. It was cool and calm and business at large. The large corridors telling thousand stories of building the industrial India that we have today. It was a feeling of satisfaction for me and looking back the journey to see if I deserved to be there! I thought to myself.

Then, in one of their global meetings of group companies, I was to be at the auditorium of NCPA at the corner of the beautiful Marine drive. And, in the tea break, I could have a glimpse of another iconic leader in the making - Ratan N Tata. Tall, handsome, calm with his army of men - the Tata Sons board. Back in the auditorium, he answered some questions with equanimity. That was 2007, five years before he stepped down as chairman of the group.

I quit my job career in 2012 to become an entrepreneur. This was the second time I was quitting a Tata Group company after Tata Refractories. But, I thought if I would have been in a job now, I surely would have chosen a Tata Group company to be in. I regretted not taking TAS as a serious option while in TRL. It would have given me a sense of purpose, possibly.

I was in job for twelve years, two-third of that went with the TATAs, my first job and my last one. I thought myself to be a chosen few. One HR head once remarked seeing my CV with stints in Tata Group companies and others that I must have seen the best and the worst of corporates. I agreed to him.

TATAs are builders of institutions. The Tata Memorial Hospital being the best example of love and care. TIFR, TISS, IISc and the ilk being some of the many. Empathy and respect transcend the mortal cycle of life with purpose. I thought the space that this group represents is unique in the world. And, when I signed another great company, HDFC as my first client for real estate business, they gave me a compliment that they considered my stints with the Tata Group as a benchmark as they looked up to them.

Twelve years ago, when I started, I had promised to myself to build and run an enterprise with empathy, care and love apart from the usual efficiency and effectiveness. I'm still on that journey. I owe a great deal of my survival story to the great men whose stories we grew up with - JNT, JRD and now RNT, their commitment to ethics and integrity in all situations and the grand vision of building India brick-by-brick. I thank TATAs to give me a chance at a young age of twenty-three, fresh from the campus and after quarter of a century, I draw all the inspiration from them to build and organisation for all stakeholders, even the street dogs included, as RNT would have loved it. My humble tributes to a great, iconic leader, a rare diamond - Ratan N Tata. People aren't mourning the passing away of an industrialist, they are missing a family member. That's how life and memories should be. And, they are timeless.