I remember it was a Monday afternoon at 12.30 p.m., on March 23, 1991, the appointed time that I met Jeh every week. He had spent a week in hospital recovering from an angina attack. I had been in to see him every day at the hospital and we had talked mostly of non-business issues. On this afternoon he confronted me with "Well, what's new?" which was his standard greeting every Monday. I said, "Nothing Jeh, we only met on Friday. There's nothing new since then."

He smiled and said, "I have something new. I have decided to retire as chairman and appoint you in my place as Tata Sons' chairman." Needless to say, I was overwhelmed—and a bit speechless. He went on to say, "I haven't decided the day because I have to consult Ajit Kerkar." That sort of jolted me. He then clarified that Ajit was very good at picking auspicious dates. So on that presumably auspicious day, the momentous board meeting was held at which he very touchingly spoke about his years as chairman, how much he had enjoyed them, what he felt he had tried to contribute, what he thought his achievements and his frustrations were. 

He talked a great deal about the firm and what it stood for. And then his reason for "passing the baton", as he put it, to a younger person. I was nervous, awe-struck and, therefore, quite ineloquent. As we left the meeting, I walked him back to his office and with his characteristic humility he turned to me and asked, "Do you want me to move out of my office?" I said, "Of course not, Jeh—don't even think about that. That office is yours. It's your space and nothing is really going to change. I look to you as somebody I will always turn to."

And although I said that and I meant it, I did have some concerns that Jeh would be in the office every day, that he would interfere and that he would forget that he was not any longer the chairman, that he would be irritable and render somewhat impotent the moves that I was hoping to make. All these fears were unfounded because he was fantastic. He was in the office every day but never interfered. He acted as the senior statesman. He was available for counselling, advice, guidance. He was my best adviser.

I still remember my first meeting with Jeh. I was in college in the US and visiting the New York office. The president of our New York office said the group chairman was in town and I went to meet him. He was very polite and asked me what I was doing, what I was studying. I was a little overawed and in about five minutes he said, "Nice to meet you", and the meeting was over. We met again and he asked me the same questions. Also he did not recollect the first meeting. I thought he was cold in a way and shied away from him for many years. Actually now I think the assessment was wrong. 

In his own way he was perhaps a very shy person. More than anything he was a wonderful human being. Many years later my father asked me to come back and I returned to India. I had been offered a job by IBM. Jeh had heard of this and would have none of it. Apparently he said I shouldn't be with anyone but Tata. But he didn't call me. He asked my father for my resume and I remember getting it done on an electric typewriter so that it looked nice. He didn't meet me but sent word for me to join Telco.

I really got to know Jeh when I was in Jamshedpur. And, of course, we got to know each other for a totally different reason—we had a common love for flying. I think he knew I was flying the company's planes. I have been flying since I was 17. We flew together a couple of times when he came to Jamshedpur. Then he asked me to set up a flying club there. In a sense he taught me to set up something. Somewhere along the line we started talking about it and it became a common bond.

We discussed work-related stuff only when I came to Bombay and joined NELCO which was a sick company at that time. Very often people get pushed into a tough assignment without the promised back-up in terms of things like funds. But Jeh really stood by me. It was during this period that we became very close, sharing views and talking about technology. He was very keen to know about technology and innovation. Then the bond really happened.

He became like a father to me at work, he became an adviser to me. But he was also a very strong critic. I was in the habit of not being punctual. It was not deliberate but I would often be on the phone or discussing something. Hence I would get late for meetings. He never liked that. I could not understand why three minutes made a difference. I now understand why he made that so important. Latecomers disturb others and it is disrespectful. And he would really give me hell for that. He would ask, "Is it fashionable to be late?"

Those were my early lessons on how to conduct my work. I learnt a lot by just being around him. People often ask me whether there was a JRD mantra of management. Truly there wasn't. There were no dos or don'ts. It was just the way he was. If he didn't like the way you were doing things and you were close to him you absorbed his criticism and dislikes.

JEH worked 24x7
Jeh was a very intense person. He never did anything superficially, he had this quest for perfection. Sometimes I am asked how much of JRD is there in Ratan. If I look back there is a lot and there isn't. When you step into the very big shoes of a person with such an image the dilemma is do you become a carbon copy or remain yourself. Can you be another JRD? The answer is no, so be yourself and do what you believe is right. Take all the intangibles into your mind—the philosophy, the work ethic, the conduct you imbibed and integrate it into your style. And work very hard.

It is something I had learnt from JRD and much before from my grandmother who has been a great influence on me. Often Jeh would work on Sundays and ruin your Sunday also. He thought that he was being very social by calling you for a beer or nimbu paani or even lunch not quite realising that he was ruining your Sunday because he wanted to discuss something. For him work was a 24x7 affair and I am told that baskets of files would come from Air-India. He was running two major enterprises, Tata Group and Air-India.

Not surprisingly he was very disappointed when he learnt about Air-India being taken over by the government. We were in Jamshedpur and he read it in the papers. He was very hurt. You know he was even denied—which I consider despicable—lifetime travel on Air-India. I remember him telling me, "Forget it Ratan, they are so small, so petty." When I took over as chairman of Air-India he didn't want me to take it but I said it would send wrong signals. I remember he had so many admirers who wanted him back, wanted that era when Air-India was a role model to other airlines.

We had our differences
Jeh and I shared many views, but we also differed. About a decade before I took over I had argued that the group was pulling in different directions and we needed to create a framework that would hold it together. One director called it a loose confederation of companies. But Jeh thought it unnecessary. In his own way he was right. He held it together with his own charisma, his patriarchal strength and this was his team. I told him that he needed to be concerned about whoever inherited his position. I suggested we institutionalise rather than personalise systems. He disagreed and it was so till he passed away.

JEH Jawahar and Indira
Unlike me Jeh had a way with politicians. He was very close to Jawaharlal Nehru, with Indira Gandhi there was a bond. He expressed his views quite openly. The wonderful thing about Jeh was he could go to an important meeting with a politician, lose out, come out and ssay, "That guy has a very sharp mind. He is a very good person though I don't agree with him or his ideology". Then 10 years later the two would become very good friends. There were politicians who had that kind of standing in his eyes.

He would write to them about issues ranging from the need to connect rivers to population control. Even on the industrial front he argued passionately against licences, MRTP and big business being ugly. What have we done against national interest, he would ask. He did see some hope when the first burst of reforms came—first during Indira Gandhi's time, then by Rajiv and finally the reforms of 1991.

He was supportive and excited but distrusting if this would last. He was friends with Manmohan Singh and they often discussed the shackles industry was bound by. When he was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1992, there were many felicitations and Jeh was very supportive of reforms even if he thought they had come 10 years too late.

Living with a legend
He loved movies. As a child I remember him sitting on the railings of Excelsior, waiting to buy tickets. He was not the kind of person who would send his secretary to get tickets. When you travelled with him he would move the blind up and down. If it didn't work properly he would take out his penknife and try to fix it. A colleague jokingly told him that I snored. He exchanged his seat with a passenger far away but kept coming back when awake.

He was a very Latin person—charming, excitable, irritable at times. He loved to tell jokes and told them with relish. He had a little black book in which he would write down jokes. He would often join in on practical jokes in the lunch room with colleagues. He was such a sport we would brief him and he would play whatever role you wanted him to. If you overdosed someone's soup with Tabasco he would play along and ask what was wrong even as the person was gasping. He was very young at heart.

For all his achievements and greatness Jeh wasn't arrogant. He preferred to be less visible and if you were otherwise he didn't like you. I often told him that I wished that both of us were 10 years younger so that we could have enjoyed the relationship we had developed for a longer period of time. But then such is life.