21 Years at the helm - a Tribute

It was July 2004 & the summer in Chennai was just abating.  The day was Saturday and a memorable day for me , it was to be my first overseas travel. 

I was flying Lufthansa from Chennai to Amsterdam via Frankfurt. The flight's departure time was 01:45 AM in the morning.With typical German efficiency,the flight took off from Anna International airport to Frankfurt Main airport slap bang on time. Flight time was just under 7 hours and the expected landing time was 07:10 CET . Flight was uneventful and landed on a cold morning at the destination.

I disembarked from the flight and had to hurry as my connecting flight to Amsterdam was less than 1 hour away. As i was walking from one gate to another , i could not but admire the developed world. I just got a glimpse but my mind was already thinking of when India would become anything closer to what i was seeing .

My next flight was just 50 minutes from Frankfurt to Amsterdam Schipol Airport.

As the flight was taxiing down the runway at Schipol Aiport , a huge white billboard caught my eyes.In it was written " Tata Consultancy Services " . A moment of pride overtook my thoughts & unknown to me trickle of tears were flowing down my cheeks. Am sure , this could just not be an isolated thought just from me , many Indians would have been made proud by the ubiquitous " TATA Group" . 

This blog is a tribute to the man who took Tata group to the world stage and turned the heads of many a nation, Mr Ratan Tata. 

A span of more than two decades at the helm of what is the parent company of the giant Tata Group company " Tata Sons" . In those two decades, Mr Tata has put the Tata name & India firmly on he world radar through his tenacity , business acumen, spotting trends & opportunity , not to miss out on being audacious & ambitious at the same time.

Starting from Feb 2000 with the acquisition of Tetley tea to become worlds second largest tea producer to the acquisition of Corus in 2007 at that time India's largest overseas acquisition to the most recent acquisition of premium car brand " JLR", Not to undermine his vision of creating worlds small car in "Nano" against all odds right from technical issues through to political backlash in Singur . His sights were always big & bold. He has been determined & has carried his vision through. Not only was he a businessman , he also showed his emotional side , when he went all out to ensure that the attack on the Taj Hotels in Mumbai would not be a deterrent & went to ensure the hotel opened in record time.

His contribution to Indian business community & India as a whole has been immense & through this blog , i would like to personally thank him for all his contribution & for making many of us proud in every which way possible.

I admire him for the statesman & the astute business man he is .He took on the mantle from the venerable J R D Tata and is now handing over the batton to Cyrus Mistry. I wish him & the tata group the very best.

Six Months & Ninteen Days

It's been that long since i last wrote a blog. The last blog was a combination of the famous Williams F1 win in Barcelona, much awaited & messed up Facebook IPO coupled with thoughts on the ever sliding rupee.

While fundamentally nothing much has changed snce then, post that famous win for williams F1 by Pastor Maldanado in Barcelona , they have been laggards the whole season . Facebook recuperated some of its losses and the rupee is still sliding but is more range bound & expect to improve during 2013.

It was a similar story for me during the last six months for me , fundamentally no big change but just that i was planning & executing step by step relocation back to India & believe me it wasn't easy but was made possible by support from lot of well wishers to whom i will always be thankful.

In those six months i travelled to India twice, Dubai , Abu Dhabi & Hyderabad once, that equated to travelling about every month & half over last six months.  In a nut shell my time was consumed by things which were  important for my relocation.

It's been a fascinating second half of the year 2012, i learnt a lot . Some of what i learnt were networking ,planning & execution,using time to your advantage etc.

Now that am back here and settling down , am hoping to get my blogging upto speed and be a regular, expect to write about experiences in the last six months.

Watch this space!