His eyes sparkle as he reminisces the days he commanded India’s largest shipping line nearly four decades ago.

“Those were different days,” recalled Trikamdas Mathuradas Gokuldas, who toasted his 100th birthday last Friday. “The role of merchant navy in nation building was well recognised. Operating an Indian shipping line with services to ports across the world was something to be proud of.”

The centenarian had steered Scindia Steam Navigation Company – the first Indian-owned shipping company to start an international service – for nearly two decades when it ruled the high seas.

Official apathy

Alas, shipping has fallen on bad times in India, swamped by government indifference and adverse business cycles. It saddens the doyen who played a pivotal role in making Scindia a name to reckon with.

“It is a pity that today our ships carry less than 10 per cent of our own cargo. Even the government-owned Shipping Corporation of India (the only Indian company operating liner service) does not own large vessels,” he said ruefully. Gokuldas, who ordered ships for Scindia from across the world at really competitive prices, laments the lack of passion today for people to get into shipping.

“In India there is no innovation (in shipping). We’re not trying to get the best out of even what’s available…We let our liner shipping sink.”

Scindia, which was launched in 1919 and played a role in Indian Independence, is no longer in operation. A government-owned lender that took over the company in the late 1980s after Scindia defaulted on a loan repayment messed up to undo the hard work that went into building the shipping line.

Many in shipping believe that the company could have been saved but for the indifference of the so-called development bankers who were entrusted with the task of rescuing the ailing carrier.

Venture into shipping

Gokuldas, whose modesty is legion, wouldn’t like to blame anybody. Scindia is remembered at least once a year – the National Maritime Day on April 5 commemorates the maiden sailing of Scindia’s ship SS Loyalty from Mumbai to London in 1919.

It was a twist of fate that brought Gokuldas into shipping. By the time he got his law degree, his father had died and the family lost its large textile business, forcing the young man to take up a job. His brother-in-law, who belonged to one of the promoter families of Scindia, helped the 23-year-old join the company. After a year of doing clerical works, Gokuldas was sent to shipyards to supervise construction of new ships.

This gave him a lot of exposure to the technical side of ships which stood him in good stead in the later part of his career.

“Five years in London was a great opportunity,” he noted. He became the CEO of the company by the late 1960s after being head of operations for more than a decade.

“We expanded the fleet, taking advantage of the government-level bilateral agreements (rupee trade) such as Indo-Soviet shipping alliance,” he said, recalling how he introduced OBO vessels that can carry oil, bulk and other cargoes.

Gokuldas was loved by his colleagues. A former employee of Scindia said Gokuldas never allowed a captain of a ship to wait outside his cabin. “His door was always open.”

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