A Man and his Times – Mr. Darius Forbes

From being a student activist protesting against the British to trying to do business in a highly regulated closed economy, it would be an understatement to say that Darius Forbes has had an eventful life. But it was on the insistence of his sons, Farhad and Naushad, that the 85-year old Forbes finally agreed to put ink to paper and delve into his personal history interspersed with the story of how Forbes Marshall emerged to be the company it is today.

Growing up in an era when the British still ruled India, Forbes saw up close the impact leaders like Gandhi and Nehru could have. “The older generation, who had grown up with a colonial mindset, thought Gandhiji was misleading us, but he was my ideal,” he reminisces. Much to his teachers’ dismay, Forbes was actively involved in the anti-British rallies, addressing and even leading a procession or two in Madras. “We had some very good leaders at that time who used to try and bring out the best in people. I am disappointed that that kind of leadership doesn’t exist today. Even with schooling and education, I find there is a lack of character building. I feel that we’ve lost the kind of teachers we used to have and in turn, that kind of character is missing in the students as well,” he says.

But he adds that there have been a lot of positive changes, the biggest being the reduction in poverty. “Sure I live in a city, but I’ve seen tremendous amounts of poverty and I see a huge change for the better,” he says.

His book, Business with a Difference: Boilers, Bicycles, Beliefs, is packed with anecdotes which also reflect the changes the nation has gone through over the last eight decades. Some of these also explain each of the words in its title.

Not many know that Forbes was extremely keen on entering politics at one time. A chance conversation with a neighbour, who spoke of how his wife and kids had been threatened when he’d stood for elections, changed all that. “As soon as Maharookh (his wife) heard that, she made it clear that I wouldn’t have anything to do with politics. So that died a natural death,” he smiles, adding that he probably wouldn’t have survived in politics. “You have to have a bit of a holy man and a bit of a rascal in you to succeed in politics and there is always a clash when you have to be both” he says.

In business on the other hand, one has to constantly fight temptation and do what’s right. More than anything, it is a test of your determination and character. “The challenges we faced were tremendous-far more than what my sons face today,” he says. Doing business in the post-independence era also meant doing business in a highly regulated environment. A lot of spare parts that were needed for machines were available only abroad, and there were restrictions or outright bans on importing some of these components. “It wasn’t easy, but it made us use our intelligence and think about how to make it locally,” he says. “Sure the quality may have been questionable initially, but at least we doing things on our own.”

One thing that Forbes Marshall is clear about is that it will take care of the local community. While setting up the Kasarwadi factory on the outskirts of Pune, Forbes was witness to an accident, and while trying to get the victims to the hospital, realised that the closest hospital was in the city centre. “That’s when I realised that here we were setting up a factory and had no idea what we’d do if there was any kind of medical emergency,” he says. That thought resulted in a dispensary on-site which has today evolved into a 35-bed hospital open to everyone, that charges a nominal Rs 5 as treatment charges. “Social work has always been a big thing with us Parsis,” he says. “We feel we have an added obligation because we aren’t originally supposed to be Indian residents. As guests in the country, you are that much more obligated to the rest of the society.”

The thought of retirement hadn’t really crossed his mind until a conversation with the late Ravi Matthai, then the director at IIM-Ahmedabad. “He said that if you stay beyond a certain amount of time, what you are doing becomes stale. I figured that if I were to stay on indefinitely, the institution would most certainly become doddery, and so decided to retire at 58, in keeping with the tradition established by the British,” he says.

Both Forbes and his wife continue to go to office even today, but only a few days a week, for a couple of hours. He’s still involved with the KEM Hospital and the Dastoor High School, and he gives both a few days of his time every month. On retiring in 1985, he did spend the first few months at home. “I’d been brought up always helping my mother in the kitchen, so when I retired, I was anxious to try my skills. My wife on the other hand doesn’t enjoy cooking too much. After two months she decided I was too much of a nuisance at home and insisted I get back to the office,” he says.

priyanka.sangani@timesgroup.com

Source : Economic Times
Dated : 6th April, 2012