A voyage to remember… 110 years on

Some stories are special for the manner in which they find you This one came 28 years ago in the warmest way I find myself thinking about it again as tomorrow marks a month since the original storyteller mdash one of the countryrsquos most elegant and pioneering personalities mdash passed on Simone Tata had called me unexpectedly with an engrossing tale that involved her illustrious inlaws mdash Sir Ratan Tata the younger son of Jamsetji Tata and his wife Lady Navajbai Tata mdash caught in the wreck of the steamship SS Arabia on November 6 1916 Excited I all but jumped hearing her ask ldquoWould you like details of the episoderdquoThe timing of her narrative was somewhat serendipitous March 1998 Exactly when Titanic fever gripped city moviegoers three months after the Hollywood release of James Cameronrsquos epic success It coincidentally opened in local cinemas here the very week that the visionary Mrs Tata founding force behind the iconic Lakme cosmetics brand and Westside retail chain shared this significant informationShe added an interesting aside to the account her friend Neville Wadia had mentioned to her how as a fiveyearold he was once aboard the same ship with his father Sir Ness Wadia The voyage of this PampO liner in the middle of World War I took place barely four years following the illfated sinking of the Titanic Englandbound the SS Arabia was torpedoed by a German Uboat short for Undersea or Unterseeboote as German naval submarines were known The Arabia however sank with a lower toll fatalities totalled no more than 11 engine crew membersPirosha Mistri Sir Ratan Tatarsquos secretary recorded the experience in his journalIt was believed the passengers were spared despite the fact that their vessel had embarked before Diwali on Kalichaudas ldquoAn inauspicious day according to the Hindus for undertaking even a short journeyrdquo Pirosha Mistri Sir Ratanrsquos secretary from 1901 later wrote in The Bombay ChronicleIn attendance with the Tatas and Mistri was Sir Ratanrsquos trusted personal physician Jivraj Mehta The reputed practitioner subsequently played a pivotal role in the countryrsquos freedom movement and became the first Chief Minister of GujaratAlso with the party was another medical colleague a nurse and the Tatasrsquo butler A description of the incident is revealed in a transcript of Dr Mehtarsquos memoirs from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library mdash ldquoSir Ratan having fallen ill on a previous trip to China and Japan the family desired me to accompany him to London for treatment Having got the benefit of the Tata studentship I felt it my duty to respond to the callrdquoAll was well for some days after setting off in October 1916 Pirosha Mistrirsquos granddaughter Mehroo Golvala remembers her mother relating an amusing anecdote When Indian favourite Alphonso mangoes were served Sir Ratan and Pirosha proceeded to eat them in typical style sucking the fruit upon cutting it mdash to the chagrin of British officers unused to the sightA deceptive calm had descended just ahead of the disaster Mehta the sole member of the group on the deck at that particular hour observed ldquoAt about 10 orsquoclock in the morning of November 6 our ship was torpedoed At the time the waters of the Mediterranean Sea were like a sheet of glass absolutely without a ripplerdquo The usual safety parade preparing passengers for similar emergencies had recommended they go up on deck where lifeboats would deliver them out of harmrsquos way Against instructions Mehta dashed down to bring his party up They emerged to discover the rescue boats taken by sailors and quicker passengers Spotting them stranded the captain ordered a last lifeboat to wait It was a suddenly dramatic moment with the connecting ropes of this boat absolutely on the verge of being severed from the shipTo quote from the PampO Heritage website ldquoThe Arabiarsquos sinking produced an exchange of letters between the United States of America and Germany despite the comparatively slight loss of life It was said that the German authorities claimed the submarine commander had mistaken the dresses of lady passengers for those of Chinese soldiers en route for FrancerdquoMehtarsquos report continued ldquoFirst went sliding down Lady Navajbai then the nurse then Sir Ratan and so on the others myself being last on the ropesrdquo Unaccustomed to the coarse thickness of the old coir ropes each of them found these digging deep into the skin on their palms The terrible bleeding gashes needed to be treated as soon as the lifeboat touched Malta shores Referring to her severely calloused hands Navajbai remarked in Gujarati mdash ldquoDorda par thi utartaa mara aangleaangla chholai gaya Lowering myself on the rope made every single finger of mine peel sorelyrdquoThe torpedo happened to hit the side of the ship where the coal bunkers were so heavy pieces of coal partially blocked the surging water which might otherwise have instantly flooded in Consequently the Arabia lowered slowly on the ocean floor The strike penetrated the engine room and wrought casualties there Seeing that the broadcasting system was damaged if not destroyed by the considerable rocking on impact the captain shot out rockets in the hope of attracting attention from vessels in surrounding waters ldquoWe were in the lifeboat for about an hour then picked up by a fishing patrol boatrdquo said Mehta ldquoOffered accommodation in its cabins but having experienced the trouble of being in cabins when the ship was struck we all remained on deck including Sir Ratan and Lady Navajbairdquo The fickle sea suddenly grew choppier Dark grey skies began pelting rain in icy torrents Already ailing and warranting greater protection from the biting cold than the rest Sir Ratan was at maximum risk According to Anjani Mehta Dr Mehtarsquos daughter her father hastened to throw off his own coat and organised extra clothes to wrap his freezing patient in warmth Summing up the trauma Pirosha Mistri recorded in sketchy sentences in his diary ldquoWe were saved but at what cost Sliding down thick coir ropes and dropping forty feet into a lifeboathellip mangled handshellip a terrific storm for thirtysix hours after getting into another shiphellip no food or water to drink until we reached Malta on November 8 and London a fortnight laterrdquoBefore a British representative could transport them to a hotel the group was led to a hospital to treat their festering finger wounds which had become horribly septic In London a distraught Navajbai sent an urgent message to her sister Banoo Lady Phiroze Sethna requesting her clothesPirosharsquos daughterinlaw Meheru Mistri recalled a lighter moment that punctuated the general gloom Although resigned to accept whatever clothing was available in such a dire situation the properly tophatted gentleman secretary still stared aghast at the brightest yellow socks he was givenThe tragedy did lead to Mistri having to wear highnumbered spectacles as a fallout of the shock but back home in Bombay news about him was drastically distorted His 11yearold son was summoned from school with the words ldquoPappa gujri gaya Father has expiredrdquo He ran home tearfully to find grieving women assembled in black sarisldquoThey got the scare of their lives when Pirosha arrived instead of his bodyrdquo Mehroo Golvala says closing the diary page of her grandfatherrsquos account Mourning quickly changed to merriment The exultant family celebrated his miraculous return hanging the customary phooltoran above the main door of their home and enjoying a hired band that played jaunty tunes More seriously meanwhile with the exposure suffered as a result of the voyage Dr Mehta developed pulmonary tuberculosis He nobly explained that he could probably have contracted the disease tending to TBaffected patients during his earlier practice in Bombay It was of course Sir Ratan Tata on whom the entire saga took a toll What he bore was sadly irreversible As Simone Tata said ldquoSick from the start of the journey the turn of events on the Arabia further aggravated his health problems and precipitated his deathrdquoThe posttraumatic stress caused Sir Ratanrsquos fragile condition to worsen to the extent that a steady deterioration led to his demise in September 1918 in St Ives Cornwall He was buried at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey the resting place of his father Jamsetji and elder brother Sir Dorabji Navajbai went on to adopt Naval Tata father of the late Chairman of the Tata Group Ratan Tata Philanthropy and community service alone did not set her apart Navajbairsquos legacy of corporate leadership emerged in 1925 with the distinction of being appointed as the first woman director on the board of Tata Sons a post she graced till her death 40 years after She was as well the first Parsi lady on the board of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet To provide livelihood to poor women of the community through meaningful employment Navajbai established the Sir Ratan Tata Institute RTI in her husbandrsquos memory With deepening concern for destitutes and the underprivileged she chaired the Sir Ratan Tata TrustThose dangerous storm clouds did eventually hold a silver lining That Navajbai Tata survived this misadventure on the seas indeed proved fortuitous for the worldAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom