Even as India bade a tearful farewell to a giant of a man, let us not bid adieu to the values the Tata name so firmly established in the country. For many decades people swore by the brand name of the Tata’s. Nobody thought of them as just another billionaire company amassing wealth. That feeling is not there for two other companies, owners of which speak the same language the forefathers of Rattan Tata adopted.
How did India have such a high regard for the Tata’s?
Well, I’ll answer that with another situation: Remember how India applauded as Tata’s took over Air-India? Each of us had watched the national airline plummeting from bad to worse, but as soon as the Tata’s took it over, it was like a mighty roar of approval.
I spent two days at the Taj to find the reason for this electric positivity.
There I found, the service, and warmth extended were beyond anything I had experienced anywhere else. The Tata’s had employees with a magic touch.
And it’s the very same magic touch of warmth, honesty and integrity that has made every Indian have such a high regard for the Tata name.
So, as the country bids tata to our beloved Rattan, let us not say adieu to the values that the house of Tata’s has cherished and made us cherish when we saw their name on some product in a store, or emblazoned behind the Air-India name as their aircraft fly the sky.
Because it is so easy to fall, and be a name that was revered only in the past, and maybe the late Rattan Tata was getting old, but the values started dropping: I flew Air-India after the Tata’s took over. Broken seats, no movies on a long-haul flight because the video screens on the aircrafts were not working, reading lights not functioning, and staff who were reluctant to serve, leave alone offering a smile. The excuse given was that ‘give us a few months, as we are changing what has been rotting for years!’
A few months back I flew the airline again, this time to the UK and found brand new staff, even worse than before, with electric switches that worked by putting the neighbours light on.
Two days ago I flew Vistara, which I always thought was the classiest of all the airlines, but which has been bought by Air-India, and found surly staff, and terrible service.
There’s only one message I want to give to a company the whole of India admires, that the way you can cherish Rattan Tata, and keep him ever alive in the hearts of us Indians, is to uphold those values that he had, and allow them to burn even brighter.
Not just the Tata’s but to all we Indians, who were blessed with great leaders. Let us keep bright the values they ignited.
And never say ‘tata to Tata’..!
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