-
The Joy of Achievement : Conversation with J. R. D
An entertaining, intimate and deeply moving portrait of the legendary industrialist. For six decades J.R.D. Tata headed India’s largest industrial conglomerate with uncommon success. This was only one aspect of his life. He was also a man of great sensitivity who suffered at the loss of friends and was pained by the poverty he saw around him: a philanthropist who wanted India to be ‘a happy country’ and did all that he could to make it so: a man with a passion for literature, fast cars, skiing and, of course, flying. This book, by the author of the best-selling The Last Blue Mountain, records JRD’s thoughts on a variety of subjects. In these pages he speaks of the House of Tatas and his style of management, about how he nearly joined the freedom struggle in the early 1940s, about the ‘thrill of living a little dangerously’, his love of music and wine, and the writers he likes to read. He speaks also, with striking candour and insight, about the failures of socialism, the future of India and his association with stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru. Jayaprakash Narayan, Vallabbhai Patel, Indira Gandhi and Henry Kissinger. Towards the end of the book, in the final year of his life, we see him come to terms with death, God and the afterlife
-
Beyond The Last Blue Mountain
Written with J.R.D. Tata's co-operation, this superb biography tells the J.R.D.story, from his birth to 1993, the year in which he died in Switzerland. The bok is divided into four parts: Part I deals with the early years, from J.R.D.'s birth in France in 1904 to his accession to the Chairmanship of Tatas, India's largest industrial conglomerate, at the age of thirty-four; Part II looks at his forty-six years in Indian aviation (the lasting pssion of J.R.D.'s life) which led to the initiation of the Indian eviation industry and its development into one of India's success stories; Part III illuminates his half-century-long stint as the outstanding personality of Indian industry; and Part IV unearths hitherto unknown details about the private man and the public figure, including glimpses of his long friendships with people such as Written with J.R.D. Tata's co-operation, this superb biography tells the J.R.D.story, from his birth to 1993, the year in which he died in Switzerland. The bok is divided into four parts: Part I deals with the early years, from J.R.D.'s birth in France in 1904 to his accession to the Chairmanship of Tatas, India's largest industrial conglomerate, at the age of thirty-four; Part II looks at his forty-six years in Indian aviation (the lasting pssion of J.R.D.'s life) which led to the initiation of the Indian eviation industry and its development into one of India's success stories; Part III illuminates his half-century-long stint as the outstanding personality of Indian industry; and Part IV unearths hitherto unknown details about the private man and the public figure, including glimpses of his long friendships with people such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and his association with celebrities in India and abroad.