Author: Arvind Mambro
JRD Tata/
Editor(s): Arvind Mambro/ SA Sabavala/RM Lala
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 718
ISBN/UPC (if available): 812910512/051368
Description
LETTERS
Contained in these pages is the correspondence of a man, who for the major part of his life, was at the helm of affairs of the House of Tata, one of the largest industrial groups in India, and has left an indelible impression on the country's economic and social life. JRD Tata was a prolific letter-writer, and this first-time compilation of some three hundred of his letters revels various facets of his personality, his relationships with various people, the projects he was involved I, his views on various issues, his kindness, forth-rightness and sense of humor, his concerns as a citizen, the values he lived by, and his personal interests.
The range and depth of his interests and concerns are reflected in the huge cross-section of people these letters are addressed to: family members, his colleagues in Tata, business associates, ministers and bureaucrats, friends in India and abroad, as well as others who were not known to him.
Divided into seven sections, the collection contains letters to eminent political and economic personalities, scientists and artist of his time like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, C Rajagopalachari, sardar Patel, Indira Gandhi, Henry Kissinger, G D Birla, Shri Ram, David Rockeffeller, Homi Bhabha and Yehudi Menuhin-People who played a prominent role in recent history. The collection also includes JRD's correspondence with his parents, shedding light on the intimate and distinctive relationship that they shared.
J R D TATA's letters bring to life the achievements of a twentieth Century legend.
KEYNOTE
From within the pages of one book emerges the considered thought of a man who played a pivotal role in driving the twentieth century's amazing progress from civil aviation to atomic energy - both of which he helped to pioneer in a country the world was wont to consider a mere geographic expression.
Divided into nine sections, this book consists of excerpts from Tata's speeches and Chairman's statements to shareholders made over a period exceeding fifty years. In the opening section, JRD looks back over the eventful decades of his lie from the 1920s till the 1980s. The middle section of the book consists of his thinking on economic matters, industry, planning and human relations. The section 'A Strategy for Survival' includes his views on the population explosion and the Presidential System, on which he was a pioneering spokesman. In the penultimate section 'The Emerging Society', he looks forward to the evolving polity of the twenty-first century.
By confining the thoughts of such a man within a single volume, by bringing before the mind's eye his essential human qualities, his intrinsically civilized approach to problems, this compilation will help the reader stretch his own thoughts beyond the parameters of immediate concern to the nation's larger well-being.
Contents
LETTERS
Editor's Note
About the Editor
Introduction
JDR Tata: A Profile
Personal
Towards Freedom and After
Aviation
Managing Men
city, Nation and Beyond
Prominent Personalities, Friends and Others
The last Letters
JRD TATA Chronology at a Glance
Index
KEYNOTE
Publisher's Note
Editor's Note to the First Edition
Foreword
JRD Tata - A Life Sketch
A journey of the Mind
The Song of the Clouds
An Alliance for Progress
Concentration of Power - A Myth
Planning for People
Men and Machines
A Strategy for Survival
The Emerging Society
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
In a Lighter Vein