Cynics would say that the pairing represents people and ideas that are way past their sell-by dates. It could also be a reminder of the good old days when tennis was the game of skill and not brute strength, when a musician had to know how to play rather than programme, and when the business of doing business was more gentlemanly than today's cut and thrust strategies.

The Tata Group, which has been driving the recent Legends series, is firmly sticking with the brand association it believes that the Legends Series evokes-excellence. 

It has just gone on an event sponsorship spree and is heavily advertising Tata Legends - events on music sports and may be even art and science in the future. With some half-a-dozen events planned this year, the group plans to spend a couple of crore rupees annually on this exercise. Plans are afoot to take these events to other parts of the country as well. Last month, the Tata group held a tennis tournament in association with The Cricket Club of India where Bjorn Borg, Vijay Amritraj, Guilermo vilas, Henri Leconte and John Lloyd got together. This month, the group has taken a lead role in putting together the "Thank You Bob' concert at which artistes like Louis Banks, Gary Lawyer and Suneeta Rao will pelt out Dylan faves.

So, what has all this got to do with making steel or cars? General manager-brand, Tata Services Madhuri Sapru says, "As a group, we're much more than the sum of the products we sell. The Tata Legends embodies the spirit of the group - one of excellence. It is also in line with the definition of the basic purpose of business that the Tatas believe in -improving the quality of life for shareholders, consuemrs, employees and all of society, and producing legends in the process," she adds. Ms Sapru denies that these events ae the beginnings of a business in event management or entertainment.

The group proudly boasts of a number of legends that have been associated with it. Tata director John Mathai, who, became the country's finance minister, or jurist Nani Palkhiwala, who was the ambassador to the United States, or even President K.R. Narayanan. And as long as we are counting, the group has produced 41 Asian Games winners, 32 Olympians and 28 Arjuna Award winners.

By the way, they also make steel.