Today a friend of mine forwarded to me an article by Mrs. Sudha Murthy through e-mail. I don’t know whether Mrs. Murthy wrote the article recently or before some time. Anyhow, my friend mailed it to me only today and so I could read it only now.
Mrs.Sudha Murthy is the wife of Mr.Narayana Murthy of Infosys and is an engineer herself. In the article she narrates her experience with the Telco (Now, the Tata Motors) and the great JRD Tata. The story goes like this- She had completed her post graduation at the IISc, Bangalore. One day she happened to read an employment notice from Telco inviting young engineers to join the company. At the bottom line of the notice it was written that women were not eligible for appointment.
She got disgusted over this ‘gender discrimination’, as she put it. Immediately she wrote to the head of the Tata Group, who was JRD Tata, reacting strongly about this injustice towards women. You should remember that Sudha Murthy (Then Sudha Kulkarni, as she was not married to Mr. Murthy at that time), was as insignificant a person as you and I at that time. She did not imagine anything would happen as a result of her letter.
But something did happen to her surprise, as she was called for an interview by Telco. She attended the interview and was selected for appointment. While she was working with Telco, she met the great JRD Tata on many occasions and was surprised by his simplicity and his concern for his employees. Great men are like that, aren’t they?
After reading the article of Sudha Murthy, I thought it would be quite relevant if I wrote about an experience of mine, on similar lines. I, quite an insignificant person as you know, also once wrote to the present Chairman of the Tata Group, Mr. Ratan Tata and got results. It was not in connection with employment in the company, but something else. I am going into details.
I bought a car from Tata Motors in 2006. It was the petrol version of Indica, called Indica Xeta. You may ask why I chose this car. Well, there were some points that had gone in favor of this vehicle. The car I owned before buying the Xeta was a Maruti 800. After using that vehicle for some eight years, I thought I should upgrade to a bigger car. Buying a big car would drain my wallet heavily, which was undesirable. I flipped through automobile magazines to compare prices and features of different models. Finally I zeroed in on the Indica Xeta, finding that any other would be unaffordable. Yes, that car was really big and it would not make a hole in your pocket either. The price was very attractive. Then one need not have to hesitate. I bought it.
And did I make a wise decision at that? The answer was to be in the negative, as I found out later. The Indica Xeta was very comfortable to travel in and I was satisfied with it initially, even though the fuel economy was poor. The warranty period for the vehicle was two years from the date of purchase. To my dismay, the air conditioning system of the vehicle failed just a month or two after the expiry of the warranty period.
I took the car to the authorized service centre where I used to get it serviced. They made an examination and declared that the compressor of the A.C. system had failed and that it had to be replaced. And the cost? Well, some forty five thousand Rupees or so! Had it happened some two months earlier, the warranty would have come to my rescue. What could I do? Get it done and pay the money? Yeh, no, I thought I should negotiate.
From the owner’s manual supplied with the car I found out the address of the Kochi office of Tata Motors and wrote to them. My argument was that since only about two months had passed after the expiry of the warranty period, a major defect like the total failure of the A.C system in the car should not have taken place. And as it had, it was their responsibility to set it right free of cost. But as I thought, nothing happened. They did not even care to reply.
I knew, from my experience, that in a company or organization, those at the lower level would be the most haughty and arrogant. As you go up the hierarchy, they will become pleasanter in nature. Then who would be the pleasantest and easiest to deal with? Arguably the Head, here the chairman, none other than Mr. Ratan Tata. And I, quite an insignificant person, decided to write to him personally. I found out the address of the Mumbai office of Tata Motors and wrote to Mr. Ratan Tata. Actually I did not expect anything to happen as a result of that letter.
But to my surprise, there was quick action. I got an e-mail from the Kochi office of Tata Motors. They told me that as a result of my letter to the Chairman, the Mumbai office had instructed them to contact me and get the defect of my car rectified at concessional rate. They told they would charge only Rs. 7500/- instead of the estimated forty five thousand. I negotiated with them and got the amount lowered to Rs. 5000/- . The compressor of my car was thus replaced and the A.C system began to work again. You see, writing to the chairman of the company will fetch the desired result, or is it the only way?
Tail piece: You might have hoped that the A.C. system of the car went on smoothly for a long time after that incident. No sir, you should not forget that it was a Tata Indica. Within a year of replacing, the compressor failed. I got frustrated and decided enough was enough and got rid of the vehicle. I had to sell it for peanuts!
