Taj - the crown of Mumbai

The Tatas are to Bombay (Mumbai to you) what Napoleon Bonaparte was to Paris. Take away the little corporal and what have you but a town of pastry cooks and butchers. Take away the Tatas and Bombay is or would have been a fishing village floating on a sea of pomfrets and mackerel. When I was a small boy growing up in Bombay, I was told that everything good about the city had been provided by the Tatas. Electricity was brought by Jamsetji Tata from the nearby valleys and without power, where would the textile industry be? The tramways - which have now disappeared - were installed by the Tatas. Bombay's water was brought through pipes put in place

This article was originally published on October 30, 2021.