Sir,

Reading the Abracadabra titled “Paris, Here I Come — 4: The paths of glory lead but to the grave — The tomb of JRD Tata” in Star of Mysore special issue of 16.2.2017 wherein it was written how the House of TATAs have touched every home in India with their various products from pin to motor vehicles, electricity to gas, soap to oil etc., narrating in a sort of literary flourish, I was reminded of what I read in Deccan Herald SPECTRUM page of March 17, 2009.

It was the radio broadcast in 1938 by Sir Mirza Ismail, Dewan of Mysore and it went like this:

“… wash themselves with Mysore sandal soap, dry themselves with Mysore towels, clothe themselves in Mysore Silk, ride Mysore horses, eat the abundant Mysore food, drink Mysore coffee with Mysore sugar, build their houses with Mysore cement, Mysore timber, Mysore steel, furnish their houses with Mysore lamps and write letter on Mysore paper.”

H.H. Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore, was indeed a TATA of Mysore Kingdom.

– K. Vijay Kumar, Gokulam