J. R. D. Tata’s biographer Russi Lala narrates in Beyond the Last Blue Mountain that one day soon after the arrival of JRD to work in the Group in 1925, RD (his father Ratanji Dadabhoy, cousin of Group founder Jamsetji, and one of his close associates involved in setting up Tata Steel) took him to John Peterson’s room (in Bombay House). Peterson was an ex-Indian Civil Service bureaucrat who Ratanji persuaded to join the Group as director-in-charge of Tata Steel, with an office in Bombay House. "John,” he said, "you know my son Jehangir. I would like you to look after my boy.” That very day Peterson ordered a small desk to be installed in the corner of his room, and from that moment on, recalled JRD, "Peterson never had a moment of privacy. Every single paper going to his desk was routed through me. I studied it before I sent it up. And I studied his comments before I sent them out. I must say that was a very formative and informative time of my career.”
Above, from left: John Peterson, R. D. Tata, J. R. D. Tata...