S M Datta: A chairman with a heart

Time of India

09-07-2025

By Navroze D Dhondy
It was late July 1996. As the
Indian Airlines
aircraft wobbled a bit and landed in Calcutta's Dum Dum airport, I was welcomed by torrential rain and loud cloudburst.
The drive to the
Oberoi Grand
was a long and torturous one, where the Calcutta traffic truly lived up to its reputation…jams, snarls, water-logging, et al.
After checking in to the hotel and doing the customary visit to the main Banquet Hall of the hotel where the
SURF Carry-bag launch
was to be held in a few weeks, I crossed over to the lobby trying to organise a cab to take me across the Howrah bridge to arrange a supplier of gas for the larger-than-life inflatable Dummy pack of Surf.
No cabs were available. No Uber / Ola / Rapido in those days to quickly dial up.
It was just my second time in Calcutta (the first as teenager from school) and I had no one to call or check with.
Suddenly, I heard a soft-spoken voice in the lobby. He came a little closer and asked
'Is there a problem. Aren't you from Lintas?'
It was Mr.
S M Datta
, who at that time was the Deputy Chairman -
Hindustan Lever
who saw me scurrying around like a headless chicken, trying to organise the cab.
I nodded sheepishly and said,
'Yes, Mr. Datta, there is no cab available to go across to Howrah and check out the gas cylinders we need in the coming fortnight for the SURF conference'
I had briefly met Mr. Datta at the HLL BackBay reclamation office when I had gone for a meeting with Mr. Shunu Sen- the then Director
Marketing at Levers
. The brief introduction and hello while he walked out of Shunu's office must have been hardly a minute or so. I was quite sure he wouldn't recognize me……..but he did!
In a flash he raised his hand, beckoned a HLL Regional staffer from the Calcutta office and said,
'My work for the day is done, give the car to Navroze to visit Howrah'
After 2 weeks was the grand SURF- CarryBag Launch Conference and it was the very first one I organised for Levers, as I had just got transferred from Lintas Delhi to Lintas Bombay.
The high and mighty of Levers were all there. It was the first time that SURF was removing the shackles of the good-ole cardboard carton and moving into a more trendy, contemporary plastic carry bag, with an in-built handle. Besides SMD, there was Shunu, Anju Choudhary, Sanjay Khosla, Vindi Banga and Arun Adhikari who were delighted by what we pulled off at the Oberoi Grand despite the many hurdles that Calcutta could create before such an important launch!
At the end of the evening, the ever-gracious SMD walked up to shake my hand, and being a man of few words, said,
'well done'.
Many a year passed by, and I had moved on from Lintas.
It was around 2002, and I had just set up Creatigies. I was on a late-night flight back from Bombay and while pulling my bag out of the boot of the cab, I landed wrenching my lower back.
While I was seated in the aisle seat, SMD walked past me and we both nodded in acquaintance with a smile across both faces. Not a word spoken.
When he returned from the visit to the aircraft loo, he saw me sitting in a rather awkward posture, with my lower back fairly stiff.
'What happened?'
And I explained my lower back spasm.
Without saying another word, he pulled down his briefcase, opened the bag, took out a small medicine pouch, and plonked a pill in my hand.
'Have this, it's a painkiller and a muscle relaxant. Will help you feel better'
On landing, with a wave and a smile, he walked out of the aircraft. And that was the last I saw of him.
SMD. The affable, gentle, Chairman who guided HLL for over 6 years.
A few days ago, Mr. S M Datta crossed over to the other side, leaving behind a legacy of a chairman who was humble, humane and heartwarming. RIP, Sir!
(The author is the founder and managing director- Creatigies Communications. Views expressed are personal.)