Ratan Takes Cyrus on His First Public Safari

Unrecognised, praised and mobbed, Tata Group vice chairman was cynosure of all eyes  Cyrus Mistry caught a glimpse of his life ahead as the chairman of Tata Sons as he appeared at the Delhi Auto Expo on Thursday, and was in turns unrecognised, praised and mobbed, as he made the rounds with long-time chairman Ratan Tata.  In his first public appearance since being named vice chairman of the $83-billion Tata Group, Mistry came across as distinctly uncomfortable in the public glare, but friendly, polite and jovial in person.  He did not speak at the launch events of Tata Motors or Jaguar Land Rover, and politely declined questions off stage, as ET trailed him during his visits to competitors' halls.  Mistry, son of Tata Sons' singlelargest shareholder Pallonji Mistry, will take over from Tata as the chairman of the tea-to-telecom conglomerate in December 2012.  Mistry stood between Ratan Tata and Tata Sons director R K Krishna Kumar as a troupe of dancers unveiled the latest iteration of the Safari—Storme. When photographers and media urged them to take the stage, Tata walked up readily, while Mistry reluctantly followed. Off stage, he was more assured and comfortable, and was chatting and sharing a laugh with senior executives such as Kumar and Tata Motors vice-chairman Ravi Kant. At the JLR presser, Mistry and Tata were talking to each other in whispers. Mistry maintained a respectful distance from Tata most times, and mostly hung out with the next rung of executives.  But the life outside the protective layers of the Tata and JLR stalls was rougher for the reticent engineer. As he accompanied Tata and a small group of executives to other exhibitors' stalls, he had to come to terms with his new high profile.  "That is Cyrus," many youngsters told each other, pointing him out to friends, as he smiled.  When Tata visited the Hyundai stall, a senior Korean executive rushed to show him around the vehicles. He didn't seem to recognize Mistry. At the Hero pavillion, Tata introduced Mistry to Pawan and Brijmohan Munjal. At the Bajaj stall, where Tata spent time inspecting the new RE-60, even bending to look under the vehicle at one point, Mistry chatted with Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan, who is sponsored by Tata Motors.  Many people came up and introduced themselves to Mistry. A Tata Motors dealer, an engineering student who wants to work with the Tatas, and a tall man, who spoke in Hindi and insisted on introducing his friend to the Tata Sons deputy chairman. "Yeh hai Mistryji, pehelwanji, hind kesari," he said, pointing out to his friend, who didn't seem to know who Mistry was, but folded his hands in greeting nonetheless. "Arrey Mistry hai Mistry," the first man shouted, annoyed by his friend's poor grasp of world affairs.  At one point, Mistry asked autograph seekers to excuse him, as he watched the vehicles on display at the Ssangyong Motor stall.  One particularly pushy fan insisted on an autograph, saying he was from a small village and it was a big deal for him to have met Mistry. The executive relented, writing on a small paper: "Surendar, have fun. Cyrus."  Mistry soon came to regret the decision, as Surendar instantly began to regard the young executive as a close friend. He trailed Mistry closely, and at one point, leaned forward and brushed something off the back of his shoulders. "Sir you have dandruff," he said. Mistry looked uncomfortable. ON A NEW JOURNEY Cyrus Mistry (L) and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata pose with the new Tata Safari Storme SUV at the 11th Auto Expo in New Delhi on Thursday