From the very beginning Jamshedpur has been a cosmopolitan and friendly place. The Blast furnace Staff consisted of Americans, the Steel work crew was German, and English men staffed the rolling mills. The clerical staff was chiefly composed of people from Bengal and South India. Unskilled workers in grate majority were tribals, Santhals, Hos, Oraons, Mundas and Chattisgarias.
The following story, told by John Keenan, illustrates the typical Tata Spirit as well as the hazard of life in the works at the beginning. He relates of serious accident in the works when a ladle with 75 tons of molten metal crashed on the ground with a deafening sound emitting sparks and burning metal.
Confused frenzied shouts of men were heard. In this accident Keenan could take only 3 of the injured men in his car to hospital. He chose one who seemed to have better chance than the others and told his helper to bring him. The man shook his head in negation, “do not take me away”, he said, turning his head, the Hindu nodded towards the body of half burned Mohammedan and spoke, “Hamara Bhai ko Le Jao” (take my brother). The Hindu who was in pain and in danger of death remembered not that the Mohammedan was of a different faith but that he was his brother. ”
This is evidence enough of the comradeship that the people of different faiths worked together in peace and harmony. This myth was shattered when religious zealots with more brawns than brains fell prey to cunning politicians to promote micro nationalism.
Life was rough, tough and hard and little rustic in beginning. Sometime the villagers were not cordial to the visitors rather they were unfriendly. In course of time the association with the visitors and foreigners developed and the hostile attitude of the inhabitants changed and assumed a friendly and co-operative attitude resulting in the change of outlook. Life in Sakchi then, and for years to come was tough and hard.
Slowly the Steel plant grew, the cultural landscape of the surrounding region changed very rapidly. The forest was cleared and hurriedly built huts and tenant houses grew up in the proximity of existing villages for labors drawn from distant fields. Thus the Tatas had not only to erect the steel plant but they had to clear the forest and build a city. In the beginning, a few tents and thatched huts, dotted amidst a jungle clearance, housed the small colony of people who were helping to lay the foundation of the steel works.
In December 1911, Mr. Lovat Fraser visited Sakchi and found that the manufacturer of the iron had already begun and saw a city in the making. “The town”, said he, “seemed a model for all great industrial enterprises, not only in India but in any part of the world where land is easily obtained.” He walked through street after street of commodious one storey brick houses, all well ventilated, all supplied with running water and lit by the electric light and many of the houses possessed electric fans. The lager bungalows, built for the use of the European staff, stood in the midst of garden plots. The streets were wide and well made, and were planted with trees. He saw the well-equipped hospital, schools, a courthouse, a post and Telegraph office and a police station were among the adjuncts of this extremely modern town.
In those years, construction naturally acquired importance. Sakchi was being transformed into a steel town.
There are two sides of every coin. The first is that, the Tata culture has become the Jamshedpur culture, so that the town is sociological extension of the factory. On the other side Tatas are protecting every one and every thing like a big Banyan tree. But like a big banyan tree its prevents others from growing underneath its shadows. Hence small business interests are vested into the business interest of the company.
