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Tag: Tata

Do you like listening to stories, the old-school way?

Posted on by prhi-dev

We’re all glued to the screen twenty-four hours of the day, no escape. Screens are our work and entertainment, both. What if you let the joy of reading be transferred from your eyes to your ears? Give your pupils some rest and let someone else do the talking.

You can enjoy these wonderful books through an engaging narrator, who reads you a wonderful story at your own pace. Your personal storyteller accompanying you on your walks, livening up your cooking sessions, your shotgun rider, your friend and your lullaby.

Here are some incredible audiobooks from multiple genres and authors for you to choose from:

 

Speaking of Films by Satyajit Ray
Speaking of Films || Satyajit Ray

 

Speaking of Films by Satyajit Ray

Speaking of Films brings together some of Ray’s most memorable writings on film and film-making. With the masterly precision and clarity that characterize his films, Ray discusses a wide array of subjects. He also writes about his own experiences, the challenges of working with rank amateurs, and the innovations in the face of technological, financial and logistical constraints. Ray provides fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses of the people who worked with him. Translated for the first time by Bishay Chalachitra, this collection of essays retains the lucidity and simplicity that is a hallmark of Ray’s writing.

 

 

Diamonds in the Dust by Saurabh Mukherjea, Rakshit Ranjan and Salil Desai
Diamonds in the Dust || Saurabh Mukherjea, Rakshit Ranjan and Salil Desai

 

Diamonds in the Dust by Saurabh Mukherjea, Rakshit Ranjan, Salil Desai

Diamonds in the Dust offers Indian savers a simple, yet highly effective, investment technique to identify clean, well-managed Indian companies that have consistently generated outsized returns for investors. Based on in-depth research conducted by the award-winning team at Marcellus Investment Managers, it uses case studies and charts to help readers learn the art and science of investing in the US$3 trillion Indian stock market.

The book also debunks many notions of investing that have emerged from the misguided application of Western investment theories in the Indian context.

 

 

 

I've Never Been Unhappier by Shaheen Bhatt
I’ve Never Been Unhappier || Shaheen Bhatt

 

I’ve Never Been Unhappier by Shaheen Bhatt

Unwittingly known as Alia Bhatt’s older sister, screenwriter and fame-child Shaheen Bhatt has been a powerhouse of quiet restraint-until recently. In a sweeping act of courage, she now invites you into her head. Shaheen was diagnosed with depression at eighteen, after five years of already living with it. In this emotionally arresting memoir, she reveals both the daily experiences and big picture of one of the most debilitating and critically misinterpreted mental illnesses in the twenty-first century.

 

 

 

A Childhood in Tibet by Thérèse Obrecht Hodler
A Childhood in Tibet || Thérèse Obrecht Hodler

 

A Childhood in Tibet by Thérèse Obrecht Hodler

Tendöl Namling was born at the time when the Dalai Lama fled from Lhasa. As the daughter of a high government official, she underwent the ordeal of ‘re-education’ with full force. When Tendöl turned 10 her brother was arrested and her mother sentenced to ten years in prison. She was sent to work in road construction for several years. At the age of 20 she was allowed to start an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic. After 22 years under the Chinese rule, she left China in 1982 and landed in Switzerland. It felt as if she had to start her life all over again. She struggled but didn’t give up and founded a family and a business while reconciling with her painful past. In Tendöl’s words, ‘this little book is dedicated to all the Tibetans who continue to rebel against the Chinese occupation’.

 

 

Harsh Realities by Harsh Mariwala
Harsh Realities || Harsh Mariwala

 

Harsh Realities: The Making of Marco

By Harsh Mariwala

Breaking away from the shackles of family-run Bombay Oils Industries Ltd, Harsh Mariwala founded Marico in 1987. Today, the homegrown Marico is a leading international FMCG giant which recorded an annual turnover of over Rs 8000 crore last year. Their products, like Parachute, Nihar Naturals, Saffola, Set Wet, Livon and Mediker, are market leaders in their categories.

Co-authored by leading management thinker and guru, Ram Charan, this book is a story of grit, gumption and growth, and of the core values of trust, transparency and innovation that lead the company even today.

 

 

The Smart Business Guide to E-Commerce by Frank Lavin
The Smart Business Guide to E-Commerce || Frank Lavin

 

The Smart Business Guide to China E-Commerce

Frank Lavin

This book is a quick and punchy read and useful for consumers, brands, retailers and entrepreneurs, covering critical areas such as the difference between Chinese and American consumers, case studies of succsess and failure in China, main platforms and social media channels, etc. It also helps in studying how to deal with market entry challenges, trademark registration and product approval and how to compete and win in the most challenging and promising retail market in the world.

 

 

 

Brand Activism by Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler
Brand Activism || Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler

 

Brand Activism by Philip Kotler and Christian Sarkar

What happens when businesses and their customers don’t share the same values? Or, for that matter, when employees of a company don’t share the same values as their executives? Welcome to the world of Brand Activism.
Brand Activism consists of business efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, and/or environmental reform or stasis with the desire to promote or impede improvements in society. It is driven by a fundamental concern for the biggest and most urgent problems facing society. Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action is about how progressive businesses are taking stands to create a better world.

 

 

 

Tata Stories by Harish Bhat
Tata Stories || Harish Bhat

 

#TataStories by Harish Bhat

#TataStories is a collection of littleknown tales of individuals, events and places from the Tata Group that have shaped the India we live in today.

A diamond twice as large as the famous Kohinoor pledged to survive a financial crisis; a meeting with a ‘relatively unknown young monk’ who later went on to be known as Swami Vivekananda; the fascinating story of the first-ever Indian team at the Olympics; the making of India’s first commercial airline and first indigenous car; how ‘OK TATA’ made its way to the backs of millions of trucks on Indian highways; a famous race that was both lost and won; and
many more.

 

A whole bag of genres and stories to choose from! Take your pick, put on your earplugs and boast about finishing a book sooner than you’d think!

What had moved Ratan to leave America and return to India to begin a career in the Tata organization?

Posted on by prhi-dev

If you’re looking for a real glimpse into the history of Tata, here is an exclusive excerpt from the first and only authorised biography on the Tata Group. This book includes the Tata-Mistry legal battle, exclusive interviews with Ratan Tata, and never-before-seen photographs of the Tata family.

Happy reading!

~

The Story of Tata||Peter Casey

Ratan was not anxious to give up the freedom he found in America, but he did want to get out of the cold, which he ‘never did get used to’, complaining that he ‘couldn’t ever feel warm enough’. Vowing that he ‘would never live in a cold climate again’, he left Ithaca as soon as his coursework was completed, but instead of returning to India, he headed out to Los Angeles, where he moved to an apartment complex, complete with swimming pool. He intended to use his architecture degree to get a job in the area and, eventually, to set up as an American architect. He had no intention of returning to India. However, his grandmother, Lady Navajbai, fell critically ill and called for him. He could not resist flying back to India to be with her. He had an American girlfriend at that time who was to follow him to India but never did. Lady Navajbai survived the crisis, but her health continued to deteriorate, and Ratan found himself extending his stay in India.

In later life, Ratan spoke of having four serious girlfriends in his life and ‘once even got engaged, but broke it off before the cards could be printed’. But he never married, and the absence of a spouse and children has, over the years, caused some to speculate about what motivates this incredibly motivated man. The bond he felt with Lady Navajbai was strong enough to pull him out of Los Angeles and back to India, and after a short period of time, he got drawn into working in the Tata organization. It was one of those emotionally-driven decisions. As for avoiding marriage, it could well be that the example of his parents’ unhappy union made him gun-shy. What had moved Ratan to leave America and return to India to begin a career in the Tata organization? It was certainly not what he had trained for at Cornell. Nor, he once said, was it the money. ‘Perhaps,’ he offered, ‘the challenge’ was sufficient to have motivated his career. Yet, he mused, ‘If I had an ideological choice, I would probably want to do something more for the uplift of the people of India. I have a strong desire not to make money but to see happiness created in a place where there isn’t.’

When Jamsetji Tata’s nephew and Tata chairman Nowroji Saklatwala died in 1938, the chairmanship passed to Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata-JRD-the son of Jamsetji’s cousin. Born in Paris to Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his French wife, Suzanne Briere Tata, JRD received a cosmopolitan education in India, London, Japan and France. A French citizen, he served a year in the French Army and became passionate about flying-as Ratan was. In 1929, he earned the first pilot’s license issued in India and just three years later founded India’s first commercial airline, Tata Airlines. (It would become Air India after World War II, and from 1986 to 1989, Ratan would serve as its chairman.)

Lady Navajbai’s summoning of Ratan to return to India was soon followed by JRD’s formal invitation to join the firm. In accepting, Ratan wrote that he would ‘attempt to express my thanks by serving the firm as best as I can, and…do all I can to make sure that you will not regret your decision’.

Ironically, more than sixty years later, this was likely one of the reasons he realized that allowing Cyrus to remain chairman of Tata Sons would be the wrong decision.

Ratan did not begin his Tata career in a corner office. In 1962, he was sent to work in Jamshedpur, in the factory of Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company-TELCO-and, after six months, was transferred to what was then called Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO). Here he spent two years on the shop floor, shovelling limestone and tending the blast furnace, before moving up to the engineering division and, finally, to the position of technical assistant to TISCO’S CEO (at the time called the director-in-charge). Clearly, Ratan’s bosses sent favourable reports to JRD, who called him to Bombay (today Mumbai), briefly sent him to Australia, and then recalled him once again to Bombay. In 1971, JRD gave him command (as director-incharge) of what Ratan later characterized as ‘two sick companies’. The assignments, he said, were made ‘supposedly to train me’. One of the ‘ailing’ firms was NELCO, radio and television manufacturer, and the other was Central India Textiles.

Being assigned to lead the Central India Spinning Weaving and Manufacturing Company made sense, since Ratan’s father, Naval, had long been involved with the firm’s mills. Indeed, Ratan later commented, with justifiable pride, that under his leadership, ‘Central India was turned around, its accumulated losses were wiped out and it paid dividends for some years. A recession in the textile industry, however, later drove it into voluntary liquidation. No one blamed Ratan for the recession that laid Central India low, but NELCO was another story. Its history was troubled, and that ‘has forever been held against me’, Ratan later reflected.

When, in 1973, he was named director of Tata Industries, some outsiders, citing NELCO, complained that the promotion was undeserved and conferred only on account of his surname. In his own defence, Ratan has pointed out that NELCO actually became profitable and ‘went from a 2 percent market share to a 25 percent share’. In fact, the company remained profitable under his leadership from 1972 to 1975, when the general recession crippled demand for consumer goods.

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