My paternal grandfather lost his entire inheritance of Rs. 10000 in a printing press. He was naive and his partner not just ran away with the capital, but left my grandfather in debt. The debt was closed with the help of my grandmother’s father. He had a BA in law, but he failed miserably in the court as he was an extremely soft person. He worked for a short time under another advocate, but probably was soon sent back home for lack of initiative to be a lawyer.
He was without work for a long time. Finally through some contact he was promised a job in TISCO at Jamshedpur. Being from an orthodox Brahmin family from the South and not knowing the language they were hesitant to move to North of India. Finally having no choice they moved to Jamshedpur. My aunt was all of 5 at that time. My father had not yet been born.
They landed up at the place of another South Indian who had been in Jamshedpur for sometime now and was well off. They landed very early in the morning and waited in the garden of the house. When the lady of the house woke up she took my grandfather and his family (grandmother and my aunt) and took them into their household.
My grandfather joined TISCO as a clerk and started working. They continued in the house of this family for sometime. Soon tongues started wagging and rumour was spread that this person was keeping someone in the house provided by the company and was making money. Even though this was untrue, not wanting to get entangled with law my grandfather’s family was sent to the house of the house resident’s brother. Soon enough my grandfather was lucky to get a quarters from TISCO and they moved into this residence.
Here is where my father was born and my aunt lived her childhood among the other families, many from South India and others from other places, most working at TISCO or TELCO. She lived there till she was married and after which she moved down South. Her marriage did not last long. Her husband gave up his job and started building a house on his own, on the promise of help from his family. But they did not keep up to it. All the while she insulted and tortured by the wife of her husband’s elder brother.
Finally her husband landed at Jamshedpur and he also got a job in ELCO. But life was not to be kind to my aunt, her husband passed away even before he joined TELCO. She then continued to live in Jamshedpur and that is how she is with us now as she kept shifting with my father (who was born soon after they shifted to Jamshedpur).
Given this history she is extremely attached, thankful and grateful to the Tatas and even today whenever she sees the word Tata her eyes light up. Tata’s she likens to the saviour of our family, and she is not wrong, as just before getting the job at TELCO, the situation had become so bad that my grandfather along with my grandmother and my aunt were planning to drown themselves. The story in the family is that when they reached the river bank they were met my an old man who saw my grandfather and told him to go back. He said that he will get a job and also have a son to look after them.
While my father did not work for the Tatas, I ended up getting a job at Tata’s and my aunt feels so good every time I wear a T-Shirt bearing the words “TATA”.
That is the legacy of TATA in my household.
