Carrying On The Luggage Legacy

Samsonite International S.A. Chief Executive Ramesh Tainwala and his daughter Anushree Tainwala, Executive Director Marketing, Samsonite South Asia share their beginnings, life, brand vision, and other interests with us...

- Kanika Dhawan

It’s a bright, sunny day at Igatpuri, Nashik. Ramesh Tainwala is busy tending to his garden at his sprawling and earthy bungalow — a plot of land he bought 15 years back and took five years to build. Tainwala — a certified phytophile — and his gardener move with equal enthusiasm while carefully examining the plants and trees that occupy a chunk of space at the bungalow. For Tainwala, these aren’t simple flora. They are a collectors’ item, labour of love and an extraordinary hobby. He prides himself with the 112 global varieties of mangoes like Miyazaki from Japan, Sweet Elena from the Philippines, Madame Francique from Haiti and Criollo from Peru, which grace his garden that has beautifully been landscaped with arches, bridges, a tree house and a lovely pond full of big, orange Koi fish. I spot a Red-Veined Darter or dragonfly fluttering over the lotus and realise how rare is the foliage that Tainwala has planted with so much care.

“Look at that plant in the distance — it’s the Odomos plant from Mizoram. I have planted it to ward off mosquitoes and other insects,” he says. His enthusiasm is infectious and childlike. For Samsonite’s Chief Executive, the humble Citronella or Odomos plant is worthy enough of invoking such real emotions, something we can attribute to his humble beginnings in erstwhile Bihar — Jharkhand. His ancestors hailed from Rajasthan and lived in Myanmar over many generations. “They probably went to live in Burma with the British, returned to India as refugees and settled in Ranchi. That’s why I think of myself from Bihar,” shares Tainwala.