“What! You want me to do a photo shoot at my home playing with my grandchildren? You do not want to interview me in my office?!” industrialist Rahul Bajaj asked me incredulously over the telephone. This was sometime in 2001, when I was pursuing an ‘out-of-box’ story for the Pune Times. To his enormous credit, Rahul Bajaj agreed to the special photo shoot idea. “Okay, come to my house at 10am. I will be waiting with my two grandchildren,” he said.
When I walked in at the appointed time, Bajaj and his grandchildren seemed to have already warmed up. While the grandson was climbing all over the grand-dad, the granddaughter was tugging at his shirt sleeves. There was no time to lose. I quickly unzipped my Nikon F90X SLR and managed to capture the memorable picture, you see on this page. Later, we moved onto the well-manicured lawns of the bungalow and the grandchildren were keen to play with their tricycles. While the grandkids cycled around merrily, the doting grandfather ran behind them. He even tried to sit on one of the tricycles for me to shoot yet another memorable frame.
Wow, I said to myself. Here was the famous man behind the ‘Hamara Bajaj’ success story gleefully playing on tricycles with his grandchildren! Immaculately attired in a safari suit, Bajaj said, “I am so happy you suggested this idea. It is so important to constantly rekindle the child within you. Otherwise, we begin to take life too seriously!” Bajaj also admitted that one of his life’s regrets was that he had spent far little time with his own children, Rajiv, Sanjiv and Sunaina in their growing up years. “I am making amends with my grandchildren now,” he said with a smile.
Some months later, I was sitting in front of the big man, this time in his plush cabin in the Bajaj corporate headquarters. Bajaj was dressed in his office uniform, a light blue, pin-stripped half sleeve shirt and blue trousers. Everyone wore the same outfit across the company. It was part of the Bajaj philosophy of oneness and team spirit. He had just returned to Pune after being conferred with the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third highest civilian award. After, he had posed for me with the Padma medal, he settled down to talk. He said, “I dedicate this award to all the staff, workers and their families of Bajaj Auto Limited. I am what I am only because of them.” Quintessential Bajaj.
A couple of years later, I had the chance to interact with not only Bajaj but also his sons, Rajiv and Sanjiv at the glittering launch party of the then latest- Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycle in Pune. After the press briefing, the trio posed individually on the motorcycles for the media. However, I wanted something different. A warm, threesome picture. So I went up and whispered my request in Bajaj senior’s ears. And lo and behold he bellowed over the din, “Aare Rajiv beta-Sanjiv beta, please idhaar aao. Rahul wants to take a special photo of us together.” Needless to say, the three-100 watt Bajaj smiles donned the front page of the Pune Times the next day. Bajaj has this uncanny knack of making you feel special.
Similarly, Pune and Punekars have always been close to Bajaj’s heart. In 2012, the Sakal Media Group under the astute leadership of the managing director, Abhijit Pawar celebrated the Pune Bus Day on November 1. The event was organised to encourage Punekars to use public transport on a regular basis. As Editor of the Sakal Times newspaper at that time, I remember accompanying Pawar to meet with the senior Bajaj to endorse his support for this unique campaign.
Bajaj received us warmly in his large, spacious office and immediately agreed to endorse and support the bus campaign. “Congratulations to Team Sakal for organising this fantastic public interest campaign. You have my complete support. I will personally board a bus from Akurdi with my entire family and travel to Pune to express our solidarity with the bus campaign,” he said.
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