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Beyond The Last Blue Mountain

Reviewed By: New User

Book Title: Beyond the Last Blue Mountain
Author: R M Lala
My Review Rating: 5/5
Date: 16-Jan-2021

This book is a delightful read on one of India’s foremost visionaries – the most dynamic industrialist and father of Indian aviation. The book starts off with a brief history of the Tata family beginning with Sir. Jamsetji Tata and then moves on to his two sons and then gradually eases into the life of JRD. The Tatas are already known for the way they conduct business and how instrumental they have been in India’s development. It’s another story that institutions started and envisioned by the Tatas were later acquired by the Indian Government (Air India, Tata Industrial Bank, IISc). This book is one of the best biography written especially the fact that author being a friend of JRD Tata had access to his private letters and other information. It covers all the aspects of life of Mr. Tata in an engaging manner especially his thinking, his passions and the great qualities he possessed such as his devotion, hard work, dedication and meticulous attention to the needs of customers to their ultimate satisfaction & delight. Amongst one of the many instances I can recall from the book is his address to the cabin crew of the Air India (page 123/PB Edition/ISBN – 978014016901): “I want meals served during the day with overhead lights switched on. Whenever I travel I find that the overhead lights are not switched on. If you put the little overhead light on, the silver and crockery sparkles. It looks brighter and creates a better impression on the passenger. If he does not want the light he will put it off, but you must switch it on“. The book also gives an account of his relations with the contemporaries of that era namely, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, GD Birla, Morarji Desai, Dr. Homi Bhabha etc. In spite of being humble & successful, his relations with the politicians were tumultuous and portrayed a sense of betrayal. This can be clearly understood of the way he was sacked as Air India Chairman by the then PM Morarji Desai. Nevertheless this is an amazing tale of a visionary who changed India for better and today’s generation should read this book to understand the vision and contribution of JRD Tata to the Indian society.