"Cyrus Mistry: Always in our hearts 4.7.1968 - 4.9.2022” reads a plaque affixed on the backrest of a wooden bench in Mount Street Garden with "City of Westminster” engraved on the seat. It was intriguing why the erstwhile chairman of Tata Sons and former managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji and Company was commemorated on a bench in the Mayfair area of London nearly a month after his demise in a car accident 120 km from Bombay.
Above: bench in Mount Street Garden commemorating Cyrus Mistry (inset)
On enquiring with committee members of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, we were directed by Dr Karishma Koka to an article in Business Today, September 5 quoting Nirmalya Kumar who headed strategy when Mistry was Tata Sons chairman: "Only last month we sat for an hour on a park bench at the Mayfair Church in London which he used as his ‘office’ there. We laughed, reminiscing, but also reflected how we were both content and looked forward to a more peaceful life.”
Describing Mistry as a "brilliant person,” Kumar, who was very vocal in terms of his support for Mistry when the latter was ousted as Tata Sons chairman, mentioned how Mistry "added value in every meeting... He gave me an opportunity no one else would have… Allowed me to disagree with him publicly in front of others which no other promoter would have. He valued a good debate to reach the truth... our motivation (being) to future proof the institution even when we made mistakes.”
Mount Street Gardens were created in 1889 out of a former burial ground and named after the Mount Field. It is an area including a fortification dating from the English Civil War and referred to as Oliver’s Mount, notes Wikipedia. "Several structures in and adjacent to the Gardens are listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England… The paths in the gardens are lined with benches, many of which have been donated by the families of US citizens who have enjoyed the Gardens whilst based at the nearby US embassy and other US institutions,” according to Wikipedia.