Candida Moraes

Managers can be so much more. Dr Tridibesh Mukherjee, Tata Steel's deputy managing director, is an expert in metallography. He's also a collector of crystals, fossils, coins and rare artefacts, apart from being a restorer of antiques

Malachite twinkles from a shelf, a rare fossil can be spotted in a corner, a magnificent onyx tabletop commands attention. But the one that simply grabs attention is a fossil of a Brazilian dragonfly, classified as Cordulagomophus Fenestratus and over 75 million years old. But this is no geology laboratory. It's part of an amazing collection belonging to Tata Steel's deputy managing director (steel) Dr Tridibesh Mukherjee, whose shelves at home are full of ceramics, rare artefacts, coins, fossils and crystals, a little like walking into Alibaba's treasure cave.

His love for rare artefacts has spilled over into his workplace where you find rare nameplates of locomotives; the type one would find only in English antique shops, paintings and an old clock that has been solidly ticking away over the years. Dr Mukherjee has salvaged and restored many a rare locomotive nameplate. "Old clocks are a passion. I consider all old clocks part of Tata Steel's heritage. I restore them and place them in the rooms of senior officials," he says.

Dr Mukherjee's love affair with rocks and crystals began in his student days, in the early 60s, when the young lad studied geology in college for a year. "My first crystal was a piece of quartz in my college years," he remembers nostalgically, adding: "after I joined Tata Steel, I began collecting minerals and pebbles regularly."

Get the normally reticent deputy managing director to talk about his passions — crystals, fossils and minerals — and you are in for an impromptu lecture on metallurgy. Dr Mukherjee, whose area of speciality is metallography, graduated in metallurgical engineering from Calcutta University and has a PhD from the University of Sheffield, UK. "In all the areas that I have worked in — iron making, steel making or steel processing — I have always been deeply interested in the hows and whys of the processes involved," he explains.

"Every time I look at a crystal or a piece of sedimentary or igneous rock, I can't help but wonder about its origins — try to find out what happened to it over the years. It's this interest that led to my passion for fossils. Wherever I go — be it a steel plant, a mine, a new country or a curio shop — I make it a point to keep my eyes open for interesting fossils and crystals. I collect anything that looks strange or new to me. Then, when I come home, I study it and try to find out about its origins," he says.

Dr Mukherjee firmly believes his passion is directly connected with the minerals used in steel plants, in the steel making process and slag. He adds that his hobby has made him read countless books to search for answers and get more information on the objects that he collects.

But, and make no mistake about this, Dr Mukherjee is equally passionate about his real job — iron- and steel-making processes. His collection mania is intimately connected with this and he finds co-relations between what he sees in the steel plant and in nature. "Seeing is believing, but what one cannot see can be perceived and believed using the hypothesis one develops with introspection," he muses.

His way of understanding the blast furnace and its working was through the microscope; a very unusual approach never attempted before. Dr Mukherjee simulated the blast furnace process in the laboratory and reduced iron ore, sinter and pellets at different temperatures up to the metallic iron stage. He then simulated the behaviour of coke in a blast furnace and looked at it through the microscope, to figure out what was happening. "Seeing and trying to understand nature has helped me a great deal in this process," he points out.

Has his collection mania led to domestic strife over the years? Well, not really, he smiles, adding candidly that during the annual Puja cleaning, his wife would often throw out all his carefully collected treasures. But the wily collector managed to safeguard them. "In 1980, when I was in Brazil, I picked up a piece of polished agate from a shop," says Dr Mukherjee, "and, on my return, I made a lampshade from it. It was only after this that my wife began seeing some beauty in the minerals that I so passionately collected."

He also has an interest in numismatics, and his coin collection is equally mind-boggling. "I began collecting coins when I found a rare four-anna coin in a handful of change some 25 years ago in Jamshedpur," he says. He also picks up rare coins from pavement sellers at Fort, Mumbai, every time he visits Bombay House.

The inveterate collector is also interested in ceramics, tiles, paintings and Swarovski crystals. He loves gardening and practicing calligraphy. He is actively involved in Jamshedpur's social life, and is president of the city's kennel club, being the proud owner of Thunder, a beautiful German Shepherd who follows his master everywhere.

His idea of a holiday is to take his family to places where everyone can see and learn a lot from nature. He likes spending time with his little grandson. "I am much more relaxed these days, and my only regret is that I could not spend enough time with my children when they were growing up," reminisces Dr Mukherjee.

For a man who wears so many hats, Dr Mukherjee comes across as a polymath at ease with his knowledge and content in his world. His colleagues say that his passion for collecting never fails to overawe visitors. It's true; we troop out of his well-appointed bungalow feeling like schoolchildren returning from a daytrip, wonderstruck by the fascinating things they have just seen.

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Uploaded on February 20, 2006