Ishita Ayan Dutt : One hundred years of a legacy

MY WEEK

Friday
It seems like a fleeting day with not a moment to spare. I am hurriedly putting together a special page on 100 years of Tata Steel and have to leave the next day for Jamshedpur. It means everything needs to be wrapped up by Saturday afternoon, if I am to catch the Steel Express at 5:30 pm.

Saturday
My contribution to the page finally complete, I board the train. Jamshedpur is all about the Tata group and especially Tata Steel. Not surprisingly, 90 per cent of the people in my coach are, in some way or the other, associated with Tisgroup companies. I hear some interesting chatter about the centenary function on Sunday. I am exhausted and long to check into the hotel.

Sunday
I am driven to the Tata Steel private airport in the morning for the launch of Air Deccan's flight connecting Kolkata and Jamshedpur, the first commercial flight to land at the airport in the last 20-25 years. A joint press conference is addressed by B Muthuraman, Tata Steel managing director, and Ramki Sundaram, Air Deccan chief executive officer. The importance of the Corus acquisition is evident from Muthuraman's speech, or what seems more like a freewheeling chat. Prior to the acquisition, he says, he wasn't much interested in the centenary celebrations. "There was something missing...one has to earn a celebration," he points out. Corus was reason enough. He also happens to mention that Corus CEO Philippe Varin would release historian Russi Lala's new book for the centenary, The Romance of Tata Steel, in the evening. That's a surprise: I didn't know Varin was in Jamshedpur for the event. Varin had also attended Tata Steel's Founders' Day Celebration in March, right after the acquisition. So had James Leng, Corus chairman and now, non-executive deputy chairman, Tata Steel.

At the evening function at Tata Steel Works, I miss much of the programme because I am far from the dais, but I do see a 20-minute film put together by Zafar Hai and attend Victor Banerjee's reading of a Business Standard Corus story from the day the acquisition was announced. That makes me smile. Lala's book is launched and the event ends with a stirring speech by Muthuraman followed by a corporate anthem penned by Javed Akhtar and composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. I catch up with Varin and ask him, "Isn't the spirit between the two organisations a little unusual for an acquisition?" He beams and says, "It's a strong partnership. It's an acquisition, they are the ruler, but it's not like the Anglo-Saxons." That explains it all.

Monday
Enthused by my trip, I pen a 600-word tribute to the spirit of Tata Steel.

Thursday
Steel continues to be the week's flavour what with a hike in prices, the first this financial year. Hope that jolts the industry out of its monsoon hangover.