Just for Jamsetji

"Life and times of Jamsetji Tata are on display,/So inspiring, that you’ll demand an instant replay./Don’t forget, please do remember/A visual treat awaits you on the 4th of December” read an invitation to the presentation by the primary section of Nagpur’s J. N. Tata Parsi Girls High School on the occasion of the legend’s 100th death anniversary year.

Tata was a nickname meaning ‘hot-headed,’ a sobriquet earned by Jamsetji’s ancestors, related the commentator in the tableau titled The Life and Times of Jamsetji Tata. Many other little known snippets in Jamsetji’s life were enacted by the five to nine-year-old students of the School named after him.

The presentation was a skillful blend of shadow play, narration and computer projections that took the audience on a journey through the life of Tata, his vision for India and the institutions that stand testimony to his foresight. Jamsetji left Navsari at the age of 13 to join a Gujarati school in Bombay. At 16 years he joined the El-phinstone College. He became an avid reader and would drown himself in books; a habit that almost cost him his life! In Bombay, Jamsetji lived with his father in an old house where he would sit in the attic, submerged in his books. Once, a terrific cyclone hit the island. The attic rattled and swayed in the wind but the young man was unmindful of it. On his father’s insistence he came down. Barely had he reached the street when the force of the wind blew the attic away. Other little known snippets added interest to the narration. Jamsetji’s vision for the India he loved was demonstrated through computer projections.

Students of Nagpur’s J. N. Tata School enact The Life and Times of Jamsetji Tata

Much research by the teachers, technical support by the computer staff, endless practices by the little children and the patience of the parents all culminated in a delightful presenta­tion. As mentioned Wahbeez Pithawalla, headmistress of the prim­ary school, "Way back Jamsetji Tata had recognized the importance of woman power in nation building. This girls school (founded in 1920) is a testimony to his foresight...Let not the pursuit of knowledge overtake character development,” she stressed.

Dilnavaz Bhagwagar