"You speak Gujarati (then) I have to think of your navjote,” industrialist Naval Tata (1904-1989) jokingly told his Man Friday K. D. Skandan when he overheard the assistant informing Tata’s friend and Gujarati industrialist Jayakrishna Harivallabhdas that Tata "Tran, sava tran vaagé aavsé [will be back by 3.00 or 3.15 (p.m)].” Skandan, who has authored the 1999 publication Naval Tata Remembered, detailed over emails to Parsiana this and other incidents of his 40-year association between 1960 and 2000 with the Tatas.
When a film producer wanted to shoot a part of a film at Naval and his Swiss wife Simone’s......