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When Prafull Talera is not traveling around the world as part of Indian delegations or expanding his knowledge of geopolitics, the logistic expert from Pune takes time to visit his favorite trees. Among them is a “pretty peep” near Southern Command headquarters, which turns pink and red before the leaves open.
“It’s such a small period of time that one can see this,” says Talera, who sits on the governing body of the Strategic Manufacturing Sector Skills Council in Delhi, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, and the Confederation of Indian Industries.
Many old trees cover the camp’s imposing Gregorian Praful home. A history buff for storytelling, he traces the plot of land from his 100-year-old house built in 1923 to the Suez Canal, just as it opened in 1869. From Surat, Gujarat, a young tailor named Sohrabji Kawasji Dincho traveled to Aden in southern Yemen. “Bombay, Aden, Suez, Cyprus, Gibraltar, London – this route used to be called the lifeline to India. India was the crown jewel of the British Empire. The Indian army was twice the size of today and they would fight until God would save the Queen.”
People started making the journey, resulting in a huge Indian community spread across the Commonwealth and countries on the edge of the Indian Ocean. The Dinshaws did well enough to build the house where the Taleras lived, another, larger home in Tardeo, and businesses and institutions such as a proxy and a prison in Eden. They also became known as the Adenwallas.
Bravol has inherited the same perseverance, which entered the field of logistics and supply chain management and established Dynamic Logistics. (express photo)
The Praful House, which is decorated with paintings collected by his son Roshan Talera, is called the Mohini Mahal, after Praful’s mother, who had decided to buy the place when it fell into ruins in the 1980s. It is of an unusual layout with a semicircular verandah and parlors. There are a few rooms but the lawns and balcony are great.
Mohini Mahal was meant for socializing, a favorite pastime in the Pune summers when the British Raj moved from Bombay to the city known as the Queen of the Deccan and its summer capital. Houses in Koregaon Park and Poona Cantonment were active centers of communication because contracts on Eden and Africa, among others, were signed in the city.
“The tradition of being in Pune for summers could be seen, until recently, when the Governor of Maharashtra was always in Pune on August 15th. During the Raj, the ruler’s home in Pune was the University of Pune, which is the seat of the Governor’s House today. Praful says: “There was a rule that within a radius of five kilometers, no house could be built higher than that of the ruler.”
He notes that the Ganeshkhind Road was the ancient Bombay-Pune road, strategically designed to lead to the civil courts, the collector’s office, and the compound, among others. A lingering effect was the cosmopolitan nature of the city. Bravol had a Swiss-German priest, Father Ochs, as football and athletics coach at St Vincent’s School, as well as Iranian, African, Chinese and Jewish friends. “After Rajneesh came, Pune probably had more foreigners than Delhi,” Praful says.
The Taleras have been in Pune, since Praful’s grandfather, Motilal Talera, came from a small village, Chawandia in Rajasthan in the 1920s. Bhavani Peth and Nana Peeth were Marwari interlocutors but Motilal did not stay there. Illiterate and not knowing anyone in town—he had an uncle in Pune who didn’t get along with him—Motilal set up a pawn shop near the railway station, but a fire at Raja Bahadur Motilal Poona Mills paid for it. Subsequently, he was awarded a contract to run the neighborhood market (Gadital) due to which he got acquainted with farmers in the nearby villages. He entered the real estate business and, despite setbacks, such as the Tenancy Act, which froze rents after World War II, the ensuing recession, and the partitioning of Motilal.
Talira dust. (express photo)
Bravol has inherited the same perseverance, which entered the field of logistics and supply chain management and established Dynamic Logistics. The company is credited with establishing India’s first dry port, called Inland Container Depot – Dighi, at Talera Nagar, Alandi Road. This also became India’s first private-sector air cargo aggregator in 1998. In business circles, Praful’s claim to fame began with India’s Just-in-Time inventory, a management system initiated by Toyota in Japan, whereby supply and demand for products in order to prevent waste and improve inventory.
India’s logistics cost as a percentage of our GDP is double digits while China’s is 8 to 9 percent. If we don’t cut logistics costs by half, we will never be competitive. I am optimistic about the Sagarmala project, which aims to create port-led prosperity. It will connect ports and 20,000 km of inland waterways, which will help us reduce our logistics costs. The Indians never used their inland waterways and coastal waters. “Mula Mutha, which has been declared a National Waterway, is silted up and dirty, but will be dredged and made suitable for passenger and cargo navigation,” Praful says. His personal mantra is “Samudra Bharat, Samruddha Bharat”. “The Indian Ocean will be the fulcrum of power in the 21st century,” he adds.
Praful remembers his college days, more than 40 years ago, when there were boat trips from Bund Garden to Vithalwadi. “There was a Blindmen’s Band playing every weekend at the bandstand. What a lovely experience,” he says. “In the next 20 years, the boats will come back,” Praful adds.
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