Legend with a heart of gold

In 1993, I was a young, 30-year old Deputy Manager in Tata Tea, Bangalore. One morning, I got a call from the Managing Director’s office in Kolkatta. Darbari Seth, Chairman of the Company, would like to meet me, during his forthcoming visit to the tea plantations in Munnar.

Darbari Seth was already a legend by then, and around 73 years of age. He had built Tata Chemicals into a very successful Company, despite all odds. Then, he had launched Tata Salt, already a rapidly growing brand. He had negotiated with the Scottish Company James Finlay, and bought out Tata Tea from them for a nominal price. He was also Chairman of Tata Coffee and Rallis India. With his broad frame, flowing mane of white hair and sharp eyes, he was a very imposing figure. So all said and done, I was a little scared to meet him.

I met him at Ladbroke House, the Directors’ Bungalow, in Munnar. He asked me to sit down, offered me a cup of tea, put me at ease, and then gently asked me whether I would consider moving to Mumbai, to work as his Executive Assistant. I jumped at this opportunity to work with a legend. “Yes, Sir”, I responded quickly. And for the next several months, this stint became, for me, the learning of a lifetime.

Here are a few memorable stories that have stayed on in my mind ever since then.

Lots to do, and little time to lose

At that time, Darbari Seth was working on a very important growth project for the Company. This involved a few visits to London, for meetings with senior executives of another global Company. Sometimes, I would be asked to accompany him to London, and help out with these meetings as well as the follow-up action thereafter. On one such visit, the meetings were very intense, and eventually, both he and I travelled back to Mumbai on the same Air India flight. We landed in Sahar Airport at midnight, and it was around 230am. when I got to my home in Colaba, to sleep. I was dead tired, and slept like a child.

Suddenly, at 6am. the next morning, even before the sun had risen fully, our home doorbell rang. My wife Veena came rushing to our bedroom, woke me up, and said that the Chairman’s driver had come to meet me. And indeed he had. He handed over a letter that Darbari Seth had addressed to me. The letter was written in his own hand, and contained over eight thoughtful points arising from our London meeting that needed immediate action, that very day. And the letter ended with the words – “We have lots to do, and little time to lose. I will see you in office at 8am.”

Clearly, even at his relatively advanced age, and even after a long international flight, he had sat overnight for atleast an hour more, and written this detailed letter out, driven by the urgency and importance of the business at hand. Whereas I, a young boy, was struggling to get out of bed. This work ethic has stayed in my mind ever since then. He was deeply and totally committed to his work, and immersed himself in it with all the stamina that he could command.

Tale of the burnt toast

On another such visit to London, Darbari Seth invited me to stay with him, in his apartment at the Taj Hotel, 51, Buckingham Place. This was a two bedroomed apartment, with a living room and kitchenette attached. Early morning, I would prepare a nice cup of tea for both of us (he loved masala chai), and he would then read through all the newspapers, preparing for the busy day ahead. One morning, he had an early business visitor, who came in at 830am. He looked very important. Both of them sat in the living room, poring over some important papers and blueprints, and engaged in official discussions.

In the meanwhile, I went into the kitchen, to make some breakfast for myself. I still recall vividly, I decided to eat toast and cheese that morning, alongwith a banana and some tea. I was watching the tea boil, and, in the meantime, I noticed thick smoke emanating from the toaster. The toast had got burnt. It was so badly burnt that the dark smoke enveloped the entire kitchen quickly, leading to the smoke alarm going off quite loudly. Lots of the smoke must have entered the adjacent living room too, where Darbari Seth was busy in his meeting. I quickly shut the door of the kitchen, but the alarm was shrill enough for everyone to hear. Eventually, someone from the hotel came up, rectified matters, and the smoke slowly went away.

Later that morning, as we drove out into London city for a meeting, I was expecting Darbari Seth to take up this matter with me seriously enough, because the smoke must have caused serious problems for his important guest and himself. On the other hand, he did not mention a word of it. Not on that day, and not ever thereafter. Clearly, he knew I had done something wrong in the kitchen, which had created all that smoke, alarm and the related ruckus. And I knew that he knew, because of the way he smiled at me, with a twinkle in his eyes. Yet by keeping silent, he made a more powerful point to me, than he could ever had done, by pulling me up.

Dinner at the Chambers

One evening, Darbari Seth hosted an official dinner at the Chambers in the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai, for a visiting Minister from Sri Lanka. Since the Minister was accompanied by his daughter, I was invited to this event alongwith my wife. Also present were Dr. Manu Seth, the then Chief Operating Officer of the Company, and his wife too.

For my wife and me, this was our first ever visit to the Chambers, which is perhaps the most exclusive Club not just in the Taj, but in the entire city. Darbari Seth must have sensed that my wife was feeling a little lost, in those luxurious surroundings. So he invited her to sit next to him, at the table. And advised her that she should let him know what she would like to eat. Then, when the dinner meeting was nearly concluded, he turned again to her, and asked her whether she had eaten dessert (it was delicious milk and saffron rabri), and whether she would like a second helping. In fact, he then called upon the white gloved butler to bring her a special helping of dessert.

My wife Veena, who was then a junior engineer in Tata Consultancy Services, remembers that warm gesture until today. “He was Chairman, and I was only a young woman, a junior software engineer. He need not have enquired. The care that he displayed, to ensure that I felt comfortable.  It made all the difference.”

Keen to see your daughter

Two years later, in 1995, I had completed my stint as Darbari Seth’s executive assistant, and had returned to my sales & marketing role in Tata Tea, Bangalore. In May 1995, my wife and I were blessed with our first daughter. I wrote to Darbari Seth, and he promptly wrote back, conveying his congratulations, and blessings to the baby. I thought the matter had ended there.

However, a few months later, I had a call from an executive in Tata Coffee. “Our Chairman is in our plantations at Coorg today, and he is driving down to Bangalore this morning. He is keen to see your daughter. Can he reach your home by around 3pm.?”

I was delighted, and apprehensive, and was caught completely off guard. I rushed home from office. My wife and I spruced up our living room as much as we could. We dressed up my daughter in one of her best little frocks.

At 3pm. that afternoon, Darbari Seth did come home. He was accompanied by a couple of senior officials of Tata Coffee. He sat on our sofa set, and asked to hold my daughter in his arms. He smiled at her, kissed her, and conveyed his blessings to her personally. He spent around half an hour in our little home, also talking to my parents. 

I was truly moved that evening. He chose to do this at the age of 75, after a grueling drive of five hours from Coorg to Bangalore, and then again the terrible traffic in Bangalore, all the way to my home at one end of the city. How much he cares for people who have worked with him, I thought to myself. How fortunate I am, to be in a Group which has nurtured such legends.

I still cherish two photographs from that beautiful visit. Darbari Seth holding my baby daughter in his arms, and another of him standing happily with our family. So many others who have worked with him have similar stories to narrate. Because, on the one hand, he was a tough task master, and there are many stories of his working relentlessly round the clock with his teams, constantly urging them to ensure that business targets were met and shattered. But on the other hand, he was, for his people, a constant guide and mentor, a powerful leader who cared deeply about them. 

Even as we mark his birth centenary this year, let us celebrate this remarkable man, technocrat and leader par excellence, with a big heart of gold.

(This personal tribute to Darbari Seth was first published in the Sands of Time, a publication of the Tata Central Archives.)