Russi Mody with Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at Oxford Bookstore. Picture by Rashbehari Das

I’m an extraordinarily ordinary man,” claimed a man who can be accused of being many things, but not ordinary. Colourful and controversial, Russi Mody has always been interesting — joining Team Tisco as a khalasi and then leading it in style; playing the piano with Albert Einstein; consuming 16-egg omelettes or whipping up a gourmet meal....

l of this has finally made its way onto the pages of a book. Russi Mody — The Man Who Also Made Steel is a biography researched by Partha Mukherjee and Jyoti Sabharwal, launched last week at Oxford Bookstore.

The book was released by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who had plenty of anecdotes from Russi Mody’s past to share with the audience.

Excerpts were read out by theatre personality Cyrus Madan which brought to life various facets of the man who is still going strong at 90.

The biography, researched for about two years, traces Mody’s life from his earliest days at Harrow and Oxford to his return to Jamshedpur where he joined Tisco in the lower rungs of the workforce. For the next 53 years, he lived and breathed Tisco — till his inglorious exit.

“He was a very challenging subject and it was my job to ask him all the nasty questions which he tackled head on,” said Sabharwal. “Ultimately it has to be a candid biography, presenting the man as he is with his failings, regrets as well as his brilliance,” she continued.

Co-author Partha Mukherjee called Mody “a multi-faceted personality who lived his life to the fullest and yet had so much humility and grace”.

When all was said and done, the grand old man rose to the occasion. “You have been listening to a whole lot of trash in the past hour,” he started off. “I have led an ordinary life, done an ordinary job in an ordinary way, yet if you choose to believe otherwise you are most welcome as long as the thoughts are kindly disposed towards me!”