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Have you ever looked up in the sky and seen an Air India plane soar through the skies? While strolling through shopping malls, have you ever come across a Lakmé store? Have you ever heard about TISS? If your answer is yes to any one of these questions, then you’re about to read about the man who made all of this possible – Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata. 

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was born to Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and Suzanne Briere in Paris on July 29th, 1904. In Persian, the name ‘Jehangir’ meant ‘Conqueror of the World’. J.R.D. Tata’s fate was sealed right at his birth. 

Did You Know?
For some odd reason, one of Jehangir’s teachers would call him L’Egyptien which is French for The Egyptian.

In his early years, J.R.D. Tata studied at the Janson De Sailly School in Paris. He was a bright student who was ahead of his peers. The syllabus did not excite him. Being born in Paris, Jehangir was more fluent in French than in English. Young Jehangir was also quite the prankster. From a young age itself, he was fascinated by planes and wanted to become a pilot himself. His passion to become a pilot was so strong that during the First World War, he would see zeppelins soar in the sky and wish he was born a couple of years early so that he could be a part of the war as a fighter pilot. Quite an unusual dream for an eight-year-old!

Years later, when Jehangir was all set to take admission at Cambridge University, he was denied admission due to a French Law that required all citizens to join the army for two years as soon as they turned 20. Jehangir had to postpone his dreams of pursuing higher education. There he served as a typist. Soon after, he had to journey back home to India.

Jehangir joined the Tata group as an unpaid apprentice, working under the guidance of John Peterson, the Director-in-charge of Tata Steel in Bombay. For the next five years, Jehangir was trained to perfection. These were some of his most important years. During the course of this period, he found himself learning a lot about the company’s history and about steel. There were several industrial visits to Jamshedpur for keen and thorough observation and better understanding. 

The unfortunate death of his father made him the head of his family at the young age of 22. Jehangir took it upon himself to settle his father’s debts and to take care of his siblings. He inherited his father’s position as a permanent director of Tata Sons. 

In 1929, a flying club opened up in Bombay. Jehangir quickly enrolled himself and 12 days later, he had the very first pilot license issued in India. For him, it was a dream come true! 

The Birth of Air India 

Upon hearing that the Imperial Service of England planned to start flights from London to Karachi, J.R.D. Tata proposed to start flights from Bombay to Karachi. Initially, there was a lot of struggle, J.R.D. Tata had to really persuade the higher-ups at Tata Sons to get a green signal, and then later seek permissions from the government. But all that effort finally paid off when on October 15th, 1932, he personally flew from Karachi to Bombay with the first batch of mail. This was the birth of the Tata Air Mail Service.  

In 1948, a joint venture was set up between Tata and the government thus giving birth to the Tata-Air India International. Soon after, the government decided to nationalise Air India, and Jehangir was appointed chairman by the Indian government, retaining a position as a director on the Board of Indian Airlines for 25 years. 

J.R.D. Tata always worked towards bringing about development in India. In 1941, through the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, he established Asia’s first cancer hospital, the Tata Memorial Centre for Cancer, Research and Treatment, in Bombay. He also founded the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 1936, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945 and the National Centre for Performing Arts. He founded Tata Motors in 1945. Then, in 1952, he founded Lakmé. In 1968, he founded Tata Consultancy Services and Titan Industries in 1987.

J.R.D. Tata was a kind man who took special care of all his employees. He believed that the workforce was the backbone of any organization. He ensured that they only worked for eight hours a day. He also ensured that all workers received benefits such as free medical aid, provident schemes, accident compensation schemes, and much more. These later went on to be statutory requirements in India. 

Read more about J.R.D. Tata’s life in our Amar Chitra Katha biography on him, now available on the ACK Comics app and all major retailers.

By Samyukhtha Sunil

In the wake of the Great War of 1914, India, like most other European colonies, was not spared the devastating amount of damage and destruction across its territory. Over one million Indian soldiers were deployed to fight battles both within the country and overseas. Over a span of four years, the war cost the lives of nearly 74,000 Indian soldiers. Very few Indians served in the Royal Air Force and were trained to fly combat jets at that point in history. Amongst them was a gifted fighter pilot whose legacy went on to be recognized as ‘India’s first fighter ace’; Lieutenant Indra Lal ‘Laddie’ Roy was the youngest and the only Indian fighter pilot to be awarded the title of ‘ace’. 102 years on, his story of pure bravery and valour stands strong.  

Indra Roy was born on December 2, 1898, in Kolkata to Piera Lal Roy and Lolita Roy. The Roy family was influential and illustrious with most of its members having tasted success either in the field of bureaucracy or sports. Having done most of his growing up in London, Indra Roy was still in school in 1914 when war was declared. 

As a bright teenager, Indra was determined to serve in the war and signed up for the cadet forces in his school. Indra turned down a scholarship from the prestigious Oxford University and did not let anything stand in the way of his dream of becoming a fighter pilot. He was enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps after two long-drawn attempts. With his exuberance, charm, and undying determination to learn, he swiftly climbed through the ranks. He also became wildly popular amongst his fellow pilots. Roy was soon flying over parts of France and dared to perform dangerous manoeuvres way ahead of his experience. However, on December 6, 1917, Indra’s fighter jet was shot down by the Germans in France and he lost consciousness and endured a severe injury. The doctors declared him to be dead, sending his mortal remains to a morgue. 

In a dramatic turn of events, Indra, in fact, was not dead and regained consciousness while he was still at the morgue. He banged loudly on the morgue door, terrifying the morgue owner who only let him out upon the arrival of medical officials. Despite his miraculous return from death itself, Roy was deemed unfit to fly and was asked to prepare for a long journey towards recovery. Even in those moments, it is believed that his passion for fighting in the war remained unwavering. He invested the majority of his recovery period designing aircrafts that prioritized the safety of the pilots that operated them. He created innumerable sketches of aircrafts during this period, many of which are now preserved in the Indian Air Force Museum in Delhi. 

In less than a year’s time, Indra had recovered and was once again ready to conquer the skies. After endless pestering, the officials finally gave in and allowed the stubborn yet determined fighter to return to his haven. Even more motivated, Indra returned to the skies where he trained hard and brought down his first German plane in less than a month! The weeks that followed witnessed a steep rise in his exemplary journey towards success. Ever since his return to flying in June 1918, he recorded over 170 flying hours and ten victories (two shared) within a span of thirteen days. He took down a total of nine German fighter aircrafts, becoming the first and only Indian to ever achieve the title of fighter ace. This was considered to be one of the most successful comebacks for any combat pilot in that period and for a boy who was young as 19, this was an unimaginable feat that Indra had accomplished. 

Unfortunately, Indra’s successful return was short-lived, with his second encounter with death occurring on July 22, 1918, one that he did not get to come back from. In an aerial dogfight, Indra’s jet was shot down by four Fokker D.VIIs. Two of those attackers were shot down in a befitting response by the Royal Flying Corps but Roy went down in flames over Carvin in France. He did not survive the crash and succumbed to his injuries. He was just a few months ahead of turning 20. 

Indra’s valour and determination were so inspiring that the Red Baron (Manfred von Richtofen), a German flying ace pilot, paid him a tribute by dropping a floral wreath over the spot in Carvin where Roy’s plane went down. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), the first Indian to ever receive that honour. 

Indra Lal Roy was laid to rest at the Estevelles Communal Cemetery, France in a grave that bears a simple yet well-worded description. Written in Bengali, it reads ‘Maha birer samadhi; sambhram dekhao, sparsha koro na’. Translated, this means, ‘The grave of a courageous warrior; respect it, do not touch it.’ Roy’s nephew Subroto Mukherjee went on to become the first chief of the Indian Air Force and also served in World War II. Indra’s legacy of strength, fearlessness and perseverance live on not just in the history of India but of the world too. We celebrate the life of this young martyr who showed aspiring fighter pilots that the sky is never the limit! 

Every year, July 1st is celebrated as National Doctor’s Day in honour of the legendary physician and second Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, whose birth and death anniversaries happen to be on the same date.

Dr Roy was an activist who believed that the youth of India needed to be healthy and fit to fight for the nation. He did his best to not only treat people but also teach the basics of medicine to women and youth who would, in turn, serve the people of the country. That’s not all, he was also the family doctor of Mahatma Gandhi.

In 1933, during a self-purification fast in Pune, Gandhiji fell sick. When Dr Roy gave him medication, he refused, “Why should I take your treatment? Do you treat four hundred million of my countrymen free?” Dr Roy replied, “No Gandhiji, I could not treat all patients free. But I came not to treat Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but to treat “him” who to me represents the four hundred million people of my country.” Later, Gandhiji relented and followed the doctor’s orders.

To the millions of doctors who follow in the steps of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, especially in these trying times, we salute your spirit and strength. Not all superheroes wear a cape, some fight relentlessly behind a mask.

On May 25th, 2020, legendary Indian hockey player, Balbir Singh Senior, breathed his last.

Regarded as the modern-day Dhyan Chand, Balbir was the first-ever recipient of the Padma Shri award in the sports category. He won numerous laurels for India, including a golden hat-trick at the 1952 Olympics. He was conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award of Hockey, India, in 2015. His record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men’s hockey final – five goals in India’s 6–1 victory over the Netherlands in 1952 – remains unbeaten even today. Balbir Singh left an indelible mark in India’s sporting history. A player of his calibre is truly once-in-a-lifetime and his demise is an irreplaceable loss to the country as a whole.