Russi Mody was a life-changing experience: Firdose Vandrevala

Firdose Vandrevala, executive vicechairman of Essar Steel India, on Mody

Russi Mody had come to interview us at IIT Kharagpur in October, 1971. That was a year before I graduated, but on the first day itself he handed me an appointment letter, for October, 1972. The condition was that I had to pass with first class. Tata Steel was paying me Rs 500 a month. By October 1972, I had an offer from DCM that was paying me Rs 1,000 a month. To put it very honestly, I did not join Tata Steel — I joined Russi Mody.

He was a great motivator. At that time Tata Steel used to have a golf event every January and we queued up to be ball spotters — we had to spot the ball and signal to the players. It was a silly job but because of the way Russi made it, it seemed to be a fun job. I will give you examples of his motivating skills. I was doing very well and he called me to my office. He said: “You are doing well and yet now I cannot promote you or increase your salary.”

At that time PanAm had started direct flights from Frankfurt to Los Angeles and had given him a free ticket. He gave me that ticket and 10 days special leave and asked me to go for a break. Another time when I was heading the tubes division, he said the same thing. But instead he moved me into the larger office that was reserved for him within the division.

Very often he would take us out at night to dhabas on the Ranchi highway and we would return at 1 am. Yet the next day he would be standing at the gate at 7 am to check if we were all turning in on time, on our bicycles in our shorts and hard hats. There was never an excuse for coming in late, even if it was the managing director himself who had kept us awake the last night.

I had visited Russi recently in Kolkata. He had been very ill, unable to recognize people. He was being taken care of by former tennis player Naresh Kumar and his family and his nephew Jimmy Mody who stays in Mumbai. I wasn’t sure if he’d recognize me. I kept talking. Then tea and chicken sandwiches arrived and his face lit up and he started eating. His love for food was legendary.

He gestured towards the tea asking me to pour myself a cup. I pointed at the sandwich saying I wanted those. Immediately he guarded his sandwiches with his hands and shook his head in disagreement. That moment I felt I was with my old boss, and he was still the same man even at 96.