It was indeed a herculean task to get Mr. Tata to inaugurate the seminar. My students were lucky enough to reach out to him over the phone, when he was leisurely sitting on a beach, somewhere abroad. Mr. Ranjit Mudholkar, the dynamic seminar co-ordinator, (now the Vice Chairman of Financial Planning Standards Board, India), was leading the students on this Mission Ratan Tata and he succeeded. He approached him and requested him to inaugurate the seminar. Mr. Tata agreed to accept the invitation on the condition that he will just inaugurate the seminar and leave as he had some urgent commitments.
While delivering my welcome address, I referred to the political scenario and appealed to Mr. Tata to express his views on the critical economic scenario. It was at that time, India had mortgaged gold to service the debit. Mr. Ratan Tata gave an excellent speech in which he also gave some useful guidelines for the new government. The media was in full attendance for the inaugural session.
Excited that his valuable speech would be extensively reported the next day, I bought all the newspapers from the newsstand. However, I was disappointed to note that not a single line of what Mr. Tata had said was carried except for some small mention in Mid-Day.
It was painful for me to see the low priority given by the media to the business world. Perhaps, at that moment itself, I was praying for an opportunity to come out with a magazine where corporate citizens would be the heroes.
Also, my tryst with writing goes long back when I was serving the Indian Army in border areas. I used to be passionate about writing short stories during my leisure time. About 150 of them have been published in leading Tamilian magazines. One of my viewpoints on enemy provocation was published in the Journal of Regiment of Artillery. I believe that writing is the best expression of creativity when you are alone, and with your thoughts.
I am happy the opportunity to publish a magazine, has arrived. However, times have changed and India is flooded with business magazines and newspapers. So, where does Corporate Citizen stand amidst this jungle of print? I present to you this unique fortnightly with the theme, the cool side of business, wherein inspiring stories of leaders and relevant issues of the corporate world would be narrated in a down-to-earth and delightful manner. See for yourself the difference.
Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian
editor-in-chief
