This book is not a substitute for the biography Beyond the Last Blue Mountain. Rather, it is supplementary to it. The biography was about the life and achievements of JRD. The Joy of Achievement is about his thinking on various matters and about intimate talks between the biographer and JRD, especially in the two years after the biography was completed.
Most of these conversations did not appear in the biography and if mentioned were covered only briefly. As Director of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and an advisor to the J.R.D. Tata Trust the author intercted frequently with JRD even after the biography was pubished. Some of these meetings gave invaluable insights into his personality, especially those occasions when he would say to the author: “Oh! Put these files aside, I like to talk to you.” Throughout his long life J.R.D. Tata continued to grow in mind and spirit, even when his body weakened. Way back in 1955 in a letter to Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) he predicted the demise of communism and that the communist would one day turn to a market economy. He lived to see that happen. Perhaps the one area he was weak in, and he admitted as much to a respected theologian, Fr. Balaguer, is that he had not read or thought enough about religion. Even a fortnight before he left India for good, he had a lengthy moving discussion with the author on the hymn Abide With Me. This was played at his funeral.
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