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One of the first lady TAS officers in Tata Motors, Silloo Surti wrote in.
 "Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end...” I came as a TAS probationer in 1963 to Telco and onto the rolls in 1964 on completion of my probation. It was an era of expansion, both in terms of production and manpower. My first assignment was as Secretary of the Senior Recruitment Boards. Yes indeed it was a full time job in those days, with as many as 4 interviews a week for posts in the rank of Foreman and above. As Secretary, I went through the applications to ensure all advertised criteria were met, set up a date for the interview of short listed candidates and sat in on the Board. Then minutes were made and sent to Head Office for approval. No computers then and the entire Works and General Office depended on the teleprinter or even the post, which surprisingly took less time then than it does now.
I commuted from Northern Town to Telco and it was an easy drive with hardly any traffic. One of the German officers from Daimler Benz claimed to drive from Nildih to Bistupur in 12 minutes flat, in his beautiful Mercedes, much to his wife's horror and children's delight. It was very common for people to drive from the Tisco end of town to have a meal [unsubsidised for ten annas] at the Telco Canteen. There was no main gate in those days and entry to General Office was unrestricted.
What was it like to be a woman officer in those days? When I joined the only other lady officer was the Lady Doctor who sat in the Main [and only] Dispensary. There were a handful of stenos and clerks in the offices and armature winders and rejas in the Works. Shortly after a couple of more women joined, but it took almost ten years before the first woman GT was taken. The common excuse was the lack of toilets for females! Even after starting to employ women officers, they were kept away from production jobs. A major deterrent was the high turnover due to marriage and or family responsibilities. One of the anomalies was that wife and children were welcome to enjoy Telco Club facilities, but my husband had to become a member for him to enjoy Club facilities. The Club constitution had to be changed before husbands could use the Club on the strength of their wife's membership.
Here's wishing many more golden years for Telco. May it go from strength to strength.
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