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This edited extract from Doctor Steel: My Life and Times with THE TATAS by J. J. Irani has been  reprinted with permission from the publishers (Penguin Business, 2023).

During all the chairmanships that he had of the Tata Group, J. R. D. Tata never made the company spend money on anything for his own personal use, including his office. And since he never spent money on the office, it started looking a bit tatty. I remember Darbari Seth and Sumant Moolgaonkar and his other colleagues, who had far more plush offices in Bombay House, telling JRD that he must do something to improve the look of his office — after all, he was representing the House of Tatas.

So, after a lot of pressure, JRD decided he must do something about his office using his own personal funds. The curtains were shabby, and the tapestry was not very appropriate, so he had the measurements taken and went off to the market with his secretary. Wherever he liked some tapestry, he would ask for the price. The measurements that he had acquired for his office were in his hands. He would take out a small, red calculator, count how much it would cost and say, "No, no, too expensive!” And that went on for the entire afternoon. They visited four to five furniture stores and came back to Bombay House without having made any purchase.

He did not own the house where he stayed for over half a century; nor was it owned by Tatas. It belonged to the Avabai F. Petit Residuary Estate Trust who had given it on a long lease. So he had no house in Bombay and a very simple office. 

I have another story about his principled approach to life. When I was in Bombay for work, we used to meet for lunch in Bombay House every day with all the directors of Tata Sons or some other VIPs (very important persons). One day he came to lunch despondent that he had lost his favorite pen. He used to carry a Parker pen set — a fountain pen and a ballpoint. "Look,” he said, "I have lost the ballpoint. I don’t know where it has gone. I have looked all over. I got people to look in my office, my home. It’s gone.” And he showed us the pen that formed the other half of the set. I made a note of it.

A few weeks later I was in London. With some difficulty, in a small shop next to Selfridges, I found a ballpoint identical to the one JRD had lost. I immediately bought it, and the next time I saw him in his office I presented the pen to him.

JRD was delighted. "Yes, Jamshed, it is exactly like the one I lost.” For the first one or two minutes, he tried it out, but then I saw his expression change slowly. After a minute or two, he gave it back to me, saying, "Thank you for the thought. This is exactly what I wanted, but I cannot accept it... It’s a principle of mine not to accept any gifts from any of my colleagues. If I did, then I know my colleagues would try to outdo each other and give me exorbitant gifts.” 

"But sir,” I said, "nobody would know that I’ve given you this pen. You can say that you found it in your room. I’m not going to go around saying that I’ve given JRD an identical pen.”

He said, "Jamshed, I know you will not do any such thing. But I would know. I would know that I accepted this gift against my principles.” 

I still have that pen on my table. This was the strength of the principles JRD held. 

After he died, Tata Sons director Jim Setna and others made an inventory of JRD’s possessions. His personal wealth was absolutely nothing, and yet he had controlled the Tata Group. 

A good human being

One morning, I had gone to meet JRD when he was in Jamshedpur. And as a matter of formality, I said, "Did you have a good night?”

"No, not at all,” he said. "I was frozen the entire night. The air conditioner was too efficient, and I could not find the switch to turn it off.”

When I heard this I said, "Sir, there is your bearer.” We had an old bearer called Sahibjan who always used to sleep just outside JRD’s room on the veranda. "Why didn’t you ask him to do this?”

He said, "Yes, I did think of it. But when I went out to the veranda, he was sleeping so soundly that I did not feel like waking him up.”

It is well known that towards the early 1990s, I had a problem with one or two people in the management. And, in fact, there was some doubt about whether I would continue at Tata Steel. I would not relent on certain principles and had decided to leave rather than become party to activities I did not believe in.

The only time you could have a chat with JRD was late in the evening, just before he left for home. So I was sitting outside his office, thinking about what to say to him when he came out and saw me waiting for him. He walked over to me, put his hand on my knee and said, "Look, Jamshed, I know what your problem is. I have been through many such situations in my career with many such executives. You trust me.”

And he did exactly the same thing with (my wife) Daisy. When he was in Jamshedpur after his cataract operation, Daisy would go and put eye drops in his eyes. So when she was with him, he assured her too, telling her not to worry. Over the next few days and weeks, he did solve my problem.

JRD never used the lift. He always climbed the stairs, paying his respects to the founder’s bust before going              anywhere. On this occasion, I was in my office preparing for my meeting with him. So I was not with him, but my principal executive officer (PEO) was guiding him. As usual, he went up to the bust of the founder to pay his respects, but on looking around, he said, "You can’t even look after the founder’s statue. It’s dirty, and there are pinholes in it.” He kept on muttering in a disgusted manner. 

When he came to my office, he didn’t tell me anything, but my PEO took me aside and told me what had transpired. I quickly went to the next room and phoned the person who was in charge of our model room. He was an expert in rectifying minor defects, and I told him to drop everything he was doing, come to the general office and make sure that the bust was clean and if there were any holes, repair them. He was to ensure everything was perfect. I gave him two hours because that was how long my meeting with JRD was to last.

At the end of the meeting, JRD wanted to walk down the stairs again. So I took him to the bust and, in an innocent way, said, "Sir, I heard you have seen some defects. I’m sorry, but can you show those to me?”

He said, "Yes, yes, Jamshed, you can’t even look after the founder’s bust. Disgusting!” And he went up to the bust. He looked at the bust but couldn’t find any stains. There were no pinholes. JRD was really confused. And then, the shrewd person that he was, he moved his fingers behind and under the bust and felt wet paint on his fingers. Then he exploded, "You were trying to make a fool of an old man! You will never succeed in doing that!” But he was very happy that we had acted promptly and had the bust cleaned.