Memories are made of this

"When I touched 80 I finished two books which were running parallel... and I thought that my journey as a writer had come to an end,” Russi M. Lala confessed to those gathered for the launch of his latest book, an autobiographic account titled The Thread of God in My Life. Former President of India Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was present to release the book, coming down at short notice, for which the writer was very grateful. Lala then told the gathering at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower on August 7, 2009 that "the second wonder (is) that you are sitting in this room. Because there was no room at the Taj today... Mr Krishna Kumar, my friend, cleared the restaurant which was temporarily housed here because of the burnt out premises” as a result of the terror attack at the hotel on November 26, 2008. Lala spoke of the heroic spirit of the staff. "I think people here are really proud of working in the Taj and that’s why they risked their lives... trying to save their guests on that terrible night. It takes a lot to create the spirit.”

Representing Penguin Books India Private Limited was Heather Adams who, while welcoming the guests, said Penguin were "delighted to be publishing his 10th manuscript.” Lala’s "direct and almost conversational style paints a vivid portrait of the times he’s lived through and allows the reader a glimpse into his intensely personal memories, his experiences as well as his encounters with personalities who shaped 20th century India.” Adams then asked Dr Tehemton Udwadia, one of India’s leading senior surgeons, to join her on the stage and commence the proceedings.

"Russi’s book... gives a clear message... that one can find God everywhere if one just looks for Him; whether it is in the steel factories of Jamshedpur or ... in the solitude of one’s own room, God is there for all to find,” said Udwadia. "The book is eminently readable with several anecdotes, stories ranging from fearful snakes to a wonderful mother-in-law... Through the pages... one sees the real person... someone who is totally lacking in guile, in pretension, in pomposity; a person who is devoid of all avarice and desire for worldly goods — the Russi Lala we all know so well,” the doctor commended. Eminent jurist Fali S. Nariman’s Foreword is an added bonus, and Udwadia recommended the notes at the end as well, as they provided inspiration to the author and range from P. G. Wodehouse to poet John Milton, from humorist Jerome K. Jerome to Rabindranath Tagore.

Describing The Thread of God in My Life as "a book of books,” Kalam said, "I started reading at about 8 o’clock after my dinner, it went on to up to 3 a.m. when I finished the book.” He shared with the audience what the book revealed to him: "Where there is righteousness in the heart there is beauty in the character; where there is beauty in the character there is harmony in the home (that is how he can appreciate his mother-in-law Parinbanu); where there is harmony in the home there is order in the nation; where there is order in the nation there is peace in the nation... Peace in the world is also possible, one thing we need and this is righteousness in the heart.”

Lauding Lala, Kalam said that "as a student, as a teacher, as a rocket engineer, as a space technologist, as a President, now going back to teaching, as a teacher” he has met many men in his life, and "am delighted to come here and celebrate the life of the 81 years young scholar and author.” He spoke of how he had read Lala’s Celebration of the Cells, about the writer’s battle with cancer, and marveled at how many persons this "great book from a brave heart” has imparted strength to Kalam said he had gifted the book to many people who have "uniformly thanked me for sending the book, since (it) gave them confidence” to win over the disease with the help of a powerful mind in addition to medical care. He recalled the time when Russi and his wife Freny came to Rashtrapati Bhavan where he enjoyed lunching and interacting with them.

Citing as a personal favorite the chapter titled "Exposures,” the former President mentioned that it dealt with how Lala was invited by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) as one of 24 journalists from 18 countries to visit the North American World Heritage Sites in 1980. He found very interesting Lala’s description of the dinosaur colony in the Provincial National Park in Alberta, Canada, which at one time extended all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico, as also the explanation about how dinosaurs as a species became extinct.

"Throughout the book, the message of Rig Veda is ringing... ‘Let not the thread of my song be cut when I sing; let not my work get over before fulfillment,’” Kalam quoted, referring to Lala’s meeting with Acharya Vinoba Bhave who walked the length and breadth of India to collect 4.2 million acres of land for distribution to the landless, as leader of his Bhoodan Movement. "All our youth must read this and get inspired” by the uniqueness of Bhave’s "profound humane qualities toward every citizen of our nation.”

"This book... was not my idea,” the author informed the distinguished gathering. It was the idea of his friend Rajmohan Gandhi who, stirred by Celebration of the Cells, asked Lala to write about his life. What have I got in my life, I am not an important person, thought Lala dismissively. But when a second and then a third person said the same thing within the space of three months he realized that "sometimes I think that God speaks to us through other people” and started writing the book "in a very leisurely manner” there being no pressure to finish it. He was going through the Oxford Book of Prayer at that time and on reading the words of Mustafa the Tailor: "Oh God, you are the needle and I am the thread,” found inspiration for the title.

Underplaying the importance of his life, Lala underlined, "What is important is what I have learned in life. What are the values that I have picked up? Who are the people who have given me those values?” He cited as examples J. R. D. Tata whose biography he has penned, Bhave and Mother Teresa. For two years Lala had interviewed JRD in a little room which he thought was the industrialist’s study, equipped with just two chairs, two telephones, a sofa and a desk. When he discovered that it was the great man’s office-cum-living room he asked, aghast: "Sir, no one of your standing should stay in such a small place, week after week.” The response he received was: "Why? It suffices me.” Describing JRD as a man who had everything and had nothing, he recalled that his secretary would tell him it’s 7 o’clock, why don’t you go home? And JRD would reply, "What have I to go home to?” And yet he was "such a cheerful person, you felt you were walking on air every time you met him,” Lala reminisced.

When Lala went to meet Bhave it was a day of silence for the latter, so he asked the questions and Bhave wrote down his answers on a slate. He would tell people "I have come to rob you with love” and they would give him land. If you were to live your life all over again, would you do the same thing? Lala asked and Bhave replied in the affirmative, adding, "I know no other way than love.” Mother Teresa’s lesson was: if you judge people you have no time to love them. As he was leaving her room she told him: "Write something beautiful for God” and Lala hoped her spirit would approve of his book.

In a lighter vein Udwadia had earlier related an anecdote about how noted American author Mark Twain had stayed at the Taj in 1904, less than a year after the iconic hotel opened its doors to guests. Twain had been persuaded, perhaps much against his will, to attend a debate at the Bombay Asiatic Society on what was then a hot topic — Darwin’s theory of evolution. Not at all scholarly, the school dropout suffered the debate silently as long as he could. He then got up and said: "Ladies and gentlemen I have it on good evidence that man did not descend from the monkey; God made man first and the monkey later because he was disappointed with man.”

Lala then spoke of Twain’s earlier visit to Bombay when he had put up at Watson’s Hotel (next to Westside at Kala Ghoda, now sadly in need of repair) and said: "I was served by a French cook who was better at the French language than at cooking. And every day a new main dish was mentioned in French and for 14 days I was given Irish stew!” That was the state of hotels in Bombay a century ago when Jamsetji Tata decided to create the Taj Mahal Hotel, Lala informed those present at the hotel that evening. It was Tata’s gift to Bombay, built with his own money. He bought the land without telling his family, saying he would "build a hotel that will be as good as any in the world, and it will bring the world to Bombay.” And that is what it is doing 100 years later, said a satisfied Lala.