An article of a life time ..JRD (must read)!!!
It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars
were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate
department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing
research in different departments of Science.
I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer
science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US. I had not
thought of taking up a job in India.
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an
advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice
from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors). It stated that the
company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent
academic background, etc.
At the bottom was a small line: "Lady candidates need not apply."
I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against
gender discrimination.
Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done
extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers. Little did I
know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful.
After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the top
most person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was
perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I
did not know who headed Telco.
I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata
Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was
the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started
writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote.
"The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the
basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals,
textiles and locomotives. They have cared for higher education in India since
1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of
Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as
Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender."
I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a
telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility
at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate
told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them
the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs 30 each from everyone who
wanted a sari. When I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my
going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.
It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.
To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in
Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I
went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.
There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious
business.
"This is the girl who wrote to JRD," I heard somebody whisper as soon as I
entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The
realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the
interview was being conducted.
Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told
them, rather impolitely, "I hope this is only a technical interview."
They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my
attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.
Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, "Do you know why
we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never
employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a
factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We
appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories."
I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.
I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I
answered, "But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able
to work in your factories."
Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was
what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job
in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and
we got married.
It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king
of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was
transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our
chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of
Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the
first time I saw "appro JRD".
Appro means "our" in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people
at Bombay House called him.
I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me
nicely, "Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is
an engineer and that too a postgraduate.
She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor." JRD looked at me. I
was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the
postcard that preceded it).
Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. "It is nice that girls are getting
into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?"
"When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir," I replied. "Now I am Sudha
Murthy." He smiled and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran
out of the room.
After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I
was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe
of him.
One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours.
To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet
again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had
forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for
me.
"Young lady, why are you here?" he asked. "Office time is over." I said, "Sir,
I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up." JRD said, "It is getting
dark and there's no one in the corridor.”
“I'll wait with you till your husband comes."
I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made
me extremely uncomfortable.
I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple
white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any
air of superiority about him. I was thinking, "Look at this person. He is a
chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of
an ordinary employee."
Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, "Young lady, tell your
husband never to make his wife wait again."
In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I
really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after
wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in
thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.
Gently, he said, "So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni?" (That was the way he
always addressed me.). "Sir, I am leaving Telco."
"Where are you going?" he asked. "Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company
called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune."
"Oh! And what will you do when you are successful."
"Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful."
"Never start with diffidence," he advised me. "Always start with confidence.
When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so
much; we must reciprocate. I wish you all the best."
Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a
millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.
Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair
JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco.
Later, he wrote to me, "It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is
that he's not alive to see you today."
I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he
valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice.
He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine
away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl,
who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his
company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset
forever.
Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls.
And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these
changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from
life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started
has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage
of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his
simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees.
Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and
magnificence.
(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys
Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys
chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)
Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative
Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth
anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004.
Regards,
