Who does not know Ratan Tata and his Tata Steel Company, do you know that there was a time when the company did not have the money to pay even the employees? Lady Meharbai Tata had an important contribution to getting out of this critical situation.
She saved the company from drowning by pledging her Jubilee diamond, twice the size of the famous Kohinoor diamond, to him.
Lady Meherbai Tata was the wife of Sir Dorabji Tata, the eldest son of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of Tata Steel Company. She is considered one of the first Indian feminist icons.
Lady Meharbai Tata is known for her strong efforts ranging from the abolition of child marriage to women's suffrage, the education of girls, and the ban on the purdah system.
Meherbai is one of the founders of the Bombay Presidency Women's Council and then the National Council of Women.
She got India admitted to the International Council of Women. She was also consulted on the Sharda Act for the prevention of child marriage.
She was also the first woman to raise her voice for the entry of women into the legislature.
Lady Meherbai Tata was the first Indian woman to play tennis in the Olympics.
Not only tennis, but she was also a good horse rider as well as a proficient piano player. Also, she was the first Indian woman to board the Zeppelin airship in 1912.
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Birth and Early Life
Lady Meherbai Tata was born on 10th October 1879 in a Parsi family. Her father Hormusji Bhama was the Inspector General of Education of Mysore State at that time. Her mother's name was Jerbai Bhama. Meherbai Tata was fondly called Mehri by everyone in the house.
Mehri was a free-thinking woman from the very beginning. Her father played an important role in introducing her to progressive Western ideas. But when her father wanted to change her name from Mehar to Meri in the wake of Western fashion, Meharbai flatly refused. She insisted on keeping her name from the original Persian form Mehr which later became Meharbai. She loved her culture very much.
At the age of 16, after passing the matriculation examination, she learned English and Latin languages. Studied further than science subject.
Once Jamshedji Tata came to her house, there he met 18-year-old Mehri for the first time. She married Sir Dorabji on 14 February 1898.
When Dorabji Tata got the title of Sir in 1910, Meharbai Tata also came to be known as Lady Meharbai Tata.
Even after getting married to a wealthy family, she was interested in social work. She kept in touch with all sections of the society.
Once when the women living in the poor area of Byculla in Mumbai were not able to get food due to the riots, she along with her female colleagues reached there with food and vegetables. But the mayor refused her request saying that you are a distinguished woman. It doesn't suit you to do all this. To this Lady Tata replied calmly, we women have not come here to be graceful, we have come here to be useful.
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Work done for the upliftment of women
Lady Meharbai Tata did many things for the upliftment of women. She raised her voice to fight for the rights of women. She studied the quality of life of women wherever she traveled, from big cities to remote villages.
She believed that the development of India would be possible only by improving the condition of women. For which education is essential.
She called an expert from England to India for a field survey of girls' education.
Lady Meherbai Tata was active in making higher education compulsory for women and banning the purdah system.
The Child Marriage Act was passed in India in the year 1929, which is also known as Sharda Act. Meharbai's cooperation was also taken in making this act.
She was also an active member of the Red Cross. In 1919, King George V made him the Commander of the British Empire.
India was included in the International Council of Women under the leadership of Lady Meherbai Tata.
On 29 November 1927, she spoke in favor of the Hindu Marriage Act at Battle Creek College (now Andrews University) in Michigan, USA.
Her spirited speech provided the audience with a great overview of Indian culture and history as well as customs and ignorance.
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Lady Meherbai Tata's Tennis Career
Lady Meharbai Tata was also interested in sports, she was very fond of playing tennis. She had won more than 60 prizes in tennis tournaments. Also, she was the first Indian woman to play tennis in the Olympics. Her interesting thing is that she used to play all tennis matches wearing a Parsi saree.
Her husband and she were often seen watching tennis matches on the center court of Wimbledon.
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How Tata Company was saved from drowning
Harish Bhatt has told in his book TataStories: 40 Timeless Tales To Inspire You, how Lady Meherbai Tata saved the Tata giant.
Lady Meherbai Tata had a gorgeous 245.35-carat Jubilee Diamond, twice the size of the famous 105.6-carat Kohinoor.
She had received this diamond as a gift from her husband Sir Dorabji Tata. Sir Dorabji Tata bought this diamond from the merchants of London.
Lady Meharbai Tata used to wear it only on special occasions. When she used to wear this diamond in a platinum chain, everyone used to be surprised. It cost around £100,000 in the 1900s.
But in 1924, due to the economic recession caused by the world war, it became difficult to run the Tata Steel Company, at that time it was called TISCO. Dorabji Tata could not understand how to save the company. At that time Meherbai Tata advised to collect money by mortgaging her Jubilee diamond.
To raise funds, Dorabji Tata and Meherbai Tata mortgaged this Hero to the Imperial Bank. At that time, she mortgaged her entire personal property including the Jubilee Diamond to the Imperial Bank to save the company's employees and the company so that they could raise funds for the company.
After this step, the problem in the Tata Company was resolved and the company became prosperous again.
Lady Meharbai Tata was suffering from a disease called Leukemia. In the last stages of the disease, she was admitted to a nursing home in Ruthan, North Wales. She died on 18 June 1931. Her ashes were buried at Brookwood Cemetery where a beautiful mausoleum was built.
The Jubilee Diamond was sold in 1939 by the manager of the Sir Dorabji Tata Estate. The money received from this was spent on education and research development, disaster relief work, and welfare schemes run by Tata Trust.
After her death, the Tata Memorial Hospital was built in her memory, is one of the leading hospitals in India in the field of cancer treatment, teaching, and research.
It is pointless that women cannot do anything for their successful life. Taking care of the kitchen and home is considered to be the work area of women. It is not at all that they are inferior to men at any level. Women are contributing in every field.
Any human life can be made successful and prosperous by proper education. Education plays an important role in life. Being a daughter, taking away the right to education from any daughter is a crime as well as exploitation. By this, you are only pushing his life toward darkness.
Jagdisha bows down to Lady Meherbai Tata's independent thoughts and works for women's upliftment.
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