Book review
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata was born in 1839, and in his lifetime India remained firmly under British rule. Yet the projects he envisioned laid the foundation for the nation’s development once it became independent. More extraordinary still, these institutions continue to set the pace for others in their respective areas. For, among his many achievements are the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, which has groomed some of the country’s best scientists, the Tata Steel plant in Jamshedpur, which marked the country’s transition from trading to manufacturing, his pioneering hydro-electric project and the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, one of the finest in the world.

In these as in other projects he undertook, Jamsetji revealed the unerring instinct of a man who knew what it would take to restore the pride of a subjugated nation and help it prepare for a place among the leading nations of the world once it came into its own.

The scale of the projects required abilities of a high order. In some cases it was sheer perseverance that paid off—as with finding a suitable site for the steel project. In others, such as the Indian Institute of Science, it was his exceptional persuasive skills and patience that finally got him the approval of a doubtful viceroy, Lord Curzon.

In For the Love of India, R.M. Lala has drawn upon fresh material from the India Office Library in London and other archives, as also Jamsetji’s letters, to portray the man and his age. It is an absorbing account that makes clear how remarkable Jamsetji’s achievement truly was, and why, even now, one hundred years after his death, he seems like a man well ahead of the times.

Edition: Hardback
Format: Demy | 264 pages
Classification: Biography
Published: 5/1/2004
New Release and in print, will be shipped after 15 days of Order.

About the author Editor, publisher and author, Russi M. Lala began his career as a journalist in 1948, at the age of nineteen. Shortly after this, he became an executive in a book publishing house. In 1959 he became the manager of the first Indian book publishing house in London and in 1964 he founded (with Rajmohan Gandhi) the newsweekly Himmat, which he edited for a decade. He published his first book, The Creation of Wealth: The Tata Story, to critical and commercial acclaim in 1981. This was followed by Encounters with the Eminent (1981); The Heartbeat of a Trust (1984); In Search of Leadership (1986); Beyond the Last Blue Mountain: A Life of J.R.D. Tata (1992); The Joy of Achievement: Conversations with J.R.D. Tata (1995) and Celebration of the Cells: Letters from a Cancer Survivor (1999). He has also edited, with S.A. Sabavala, a book of J.R.D. Tata’s speeches, Keynote (1986). R.M. Lala’s books have been translated into other languages including Japanese. He has been director of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust since 1985, and is the co-founder of the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy, and since 1993, its chairman.