R.M. Lala > Quotes

“In 1902 before the site of the steel plant was even located, Jamsetji when abroad, described his dream city of steel to his son Dorab in a letter: ‘Be sure to lay wide streets planted with shady trees, every other of a quick-growing variety. Be sure that there is plenty of space for lawns and gardens. Reserve large areas for football, hockey and parks. Earmark areas for Hindu temples, Mohammedan mosques and Christian churches.’ Two decades after Jamsetji penned these lines, J.R.D. first visited Jamshedpur. The dream had come true. In the intervening years men of steel had raised a city out of a jungle.”
― R.M. Lala, Beyond the last blue mountain

“There is one kind of charity common enough among us, and which is certainly a good thing, though I do not think it the best thing we can have. It is that patchwork philanthropy which clothes the ragged, feeds the poor, and heals the sick and halts. I am far from decrying the noble spirit which seeks to help a poor or suffering fellow-being. But charities of the hospital and poor asylum kind are comparatively more common and fashionable among us Parsis. What advances a nation or community is not so much to prop up its weakest and most helpless members as to lift up the best and most gifted so as to make them of the greatest service to the country. I prefer this constructive philanthropy which seeks to educate and develop the faculties of the best of our young men.”
― R.M. Lala, The Creation of wealth: The Tatas from the 19th to the 21st Century

“know that aiming at perfection has its drawbacks. It makes you go into details you can avoid. It takes a lot of energy but that is the only way you can achieve excellence. So, in that sense, being finicky, is essential.”
― R.M. Lala, Beyond the Last Blue Mountain

“A couple of years before he passed away he told me more than once that he wanted to die abroad. ‘All chairmen of Tata Sons have died abroad,’ he would say. I did question J.R.D., ‘Even if they happened to die abroad, why do you want to do so?’ ‘If I die abroad,’ he said gently, ‘I will be no bother to people here.’ The well-known journalist, M.V. Kamath, wrote after J.R.D.’s death, ‘In his life what J.R.D. did was what any pilgrim might have wished to do: go always a little further beyond the last blue mountain, wishing to know what lay there.”
― R.M. Lala, Beyond the last blue mountain

“Ratan Tata speaks of JRD’s business ethics. One of India’s best known tax consultants, Dinesh Vyas, says that JRD never entered into a debate between ‘tax avoidance’ which was permissible and ‘tax evasion’ which was illegal; his sole motto was ‘tax compliance’. On one occasion a senior executive of a Tata company tried to save on taxes. Before putting up that case, the chairman of the company took him to JRD. Dinesh Vyas explained to JRD: ‘But Sir, it is not illegal.’ Softly JRD said: ‘Not illegal, yes. But is it right?’ Vyas says not in his decades of professional work had anyone ever asked him that question. Vyas later wrote in an article, ‘JRD would have been the most ardent supporter of the view expressed by Lord Denning: “The avoidance of tax may be lawful, but it is not yet a virtue.”
― R.M. Lala, The Creation of wealth: The Tatas from the 19th to the 21st Century

“Jamsetji said: ‘I can afford to give but I prefer to lend’, as thereby the scholarships could go on in perpetuity, there being no pressure to return the money (no interest). He also did so presumably because self-respect and self-esteem are essential for self-actualization.”
― R.M. Lala, For the Love of India: The Life and Times of Jamsetji Tata

“The essence of Zoroastrianism is simple, ‘Humata, Hukta, Huvarsta’— Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.”
― R M Lala, For the Love of India: The Life and Times of Jamsetji Tata

“मनुष्य जिसे विश्वास हो ज़रूरी नहीं वह हिन्दू, मुस्लिम या ईसाई हो ओर न ही यह ज़रूरी है कि वह अध्यात्मिक हो। हालाँकि विज्ञान और अध्यात्म एक ही सिक्के के दो पहलू हैं। किसी भी व्यक्ति का अपने अन्तर अपने अस्तित्व के बारे में सोचना ही अध्यात्मिकता है। जब यह सोच बहिर्मुखी हो जाती है तो इसे ही विज्ञान कहते हैं। विज्ञान और अध्यात्म दोनों ही मनुष्य को बदलने के लिये इस्तेमाल किये जाते हैं।”
― R.M. Lala, Finding a Purpose in Life

“Over 70 per cent of the medium and heavy commercial vehicles on Indian roads are made by Telco. Telco is able to manufacture 99.8 per cent of its parts in India. A family of 1,500 ancillary suppliers furnish all kinds of components. About 50 per cent of the parts that go into the trucks are supplied by them. Over the years each supplier has been trained by Telco engineers to provide the high quality of components required. For several years such was the demand for Telco trucks that they commanded a premium price in the market but Telco held its price line. I once questioned then chairman and managing director of Telco, Mr Moolgaokar, why he did that. He replied: ‘Profits should come from productivity and not by raising prices in a favourable market. Our greatest asset is customer affection.”
― R.M. Lala, The Creation of wealth: The Tatas from the 19th to the 21st Century

“Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata—A Chronicle of his Life1.”
― R.M. Lala, Beyond the last blue mountain