“The man is no more but the myriad ways in which he touched the lives of common citizens like me will live on to continue his legacy.”
I am a small time bureaucrat. I have no claim to any acquaintance to large industrial icons or business houses in this country. I have neither known any nor have any of them reached out to me. At best, my track record would boast of attempting to stop industrial development in the country only because I was part of a thoroughly professional and outstanding department, which fulfilled its constitutional mandate sincerely. It was thus a rather strange request that came my way when, I was told in early 2013, that Mr Ratan Tata wanted to meet me. Auditors are not the most popular of guys. Let alone read of the exploits of a department, which was at the receiving end of huge “accolades”, the desire of India’s most prominent and respected industrialist, wanting a meeting with the auditor was most unexpected, to put it mildly. I would be economical with the truth if I do not admit that I loved the idea of a meeting him and probably even had stars in my eyes at the prospect. I promptly accepted the offer and sought to know the date and timing of the meeting. I also sought to know the venue for the meeting.
I was not prepared for the reply that followed.
I was told that Mr Tata was coming to Delhi and he would like to have a meeting with me in my office. Now that was a bit too much. The titan that he was — a person hardly seen in the corridors of North and South Blocks – come to the CAG office! Well how do you say “no” to such an offer. I accepted and stated that he could indicate the date and time convenient to him. That was not to be. His office got in touch with my staff to ascertain when I would be in Delhi and to learn of my engagements so that the visit could be scheduled without upsetting my commitments. By now I was getting accustomed to these surprises. So a date was fixed. Since I was coming to terms with my luck, I decided to push it further. He was visiting around noon time, so I offered to host him for lunch in the office. The invitation was accepted!
My big day arrived. Mr Tata came. He was accompanied by his close friend and associate S Ramadorai. He started off by telling me that he had wanted to make my acquaintance for some time and had not been able to find an earlier opportunity. I told him that I had the good fortune to sit with him on the board of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited sometime in 1993, when I was a joint secretary in the Ministry of Defence. Not only was he on the Board but attended its meetings too. At that time, most government departments and public sector undertakings were wanting to “right size” (as the euphemism goes). He had then shared a remarkable experiment undertaken by him in Tata Steel. The approach was that those employees who were to be weeded out were requested to stay at home with the assurance that their salary, as at that time, would be frozen and assured till their date of retirement. This met with no resistance from the unions but saved hugely for the company in terms of negative marginal productivity of these employees and indirect power, transportation and subsidised canteen costs on the company. The scheme turned out to be a huge success.
What did we talk about in the roughly two hours that he was in the office? I do not recall the details but I am sure I did most of the talking and he did the listening. I guess he made me believe that I was probably the best read and knowledgeable guy in the bureaucracy. He had lunch and thanked the sarkari khansama as if the iconic Taj would not have turned out anything so delicious. My surprises were not to end. When he was leaving he mentioned that Cyrus Mistry would be coming to see me too sometime later. (The late Cyrus Mistry had just taken over the reins of Tatasons). This caught me further off guard. Mr Mistry did come a few weeks later to the office, had lunch with me, and even carried a copy of the book that I had happened to discuss with Mr Tata.
That was the person. A most impeccable human being who stayed grounded and humble and wore his achievements so lightly on his shoulders. The man is no more but the myriad ways in which he touched the lives of common citizens like me will live on to continue his legacy.
There has been an outpouring of condolences from the highest in the land. His achievements, transformative leadership and philanthropy has been acknowledged by all. If we really mean what we say about this true Indian, why not make the legend live. It will be a gracious acknowledgement of his contribution to this country if we named the new Mumbai airport after him.
The writer is former Comptroller and Auditor General of India
