By | Adil Malia | www.adilmalia.com
Naval Tata
Today is his Birth Anniversary.
Naval Tata was born in Surat on 30 August, 1904 to a middle-class family…. his father unfortunately expired when Naval was rather very young.
Young Naval was later boarded at the J. N. Petit Parsi Orphanage by family friends, in an effort to help support them. In a fortunate turn of event, which changed Naval’s fortune and life, Navajbai, wife of Ratanji Tata (the second of Jamsetji Tata’s two sons) adopted him from the orphanage.
Lady Ratan Tata was apparently bowled over when Naval, spiffed up to meet her the first time, in a sailor’s suit. The child just came and saluted her at that first meeting. Navajbai just could not stop adoring the child from that moment. Indeed, it was the one salute that forever changed Naval’s life.
A noted alumni DAVIET of the Tata Group, Naval is the father of Ratan Tata, Jimmy Tata and Noel Tata. He performed very critical roles along with JRD in the Tata Group in his life-time. Naval contributed significantly to sports (particularly Indian hockey), philanthropy and was dedicated to the Welfare and Reforms of Labour in India. He was very closely associated with NIPM in several ways for over 3 decades.
In his honour and in his reverred memory, NIPM for last 28 years has been organising the annual ‘Naval Tata Memorial Lecture Series’ which have been addressed by several eminent speakers of National repute on critical themes of national and industrial interest.
This year, the 29th Naval Tata Memorial Lecture will be addressed by Shekhar Bhandari – President Kotak Mahindra Bank. Shekhar will speak on ‘Never Normal’. Just about the time when the world is attempting to limp back to a slow normalcy, post the Corona pendemic, the world is preparing itself for what some prefer to call ‘the new normal’. Shekhar argues – there is no new normal. ‘Never Normal’ is the constant normal of shifting digital times ahead…. an interesting way forward to ponder over.
3rd Sept – Zoom – NIPM Mumbai – Register in. It will be great to see you there. You should listen to Shekhar.
Republished with permission and originally published at www.adilmalia.com
