He is 88, going on 18. Nothing else explains Basant Kumar Birla?s zest for life. He is a patron of arts, loves photography, is ?addicted? to walking, doing 10 miles a day if he is ?up in the hills?.

What is interesting is that he carries this passion into his work as well. As chairman of the Rs 10,000-crore B K Birla Group, he keeps an eight-hour schedule in office everyday, checking accounts of each of his companies, led by cement and tyre major Kesoram Industries, Century Textiles and Century Enka, Jay Shree Tea et al, every month.?I meet my senior staff ? around 50 ? every month, some everyday,? he says.

As we settle down for an hour-long chat at Birla Park in south Kolkata, the Birla residence since 1955, he asks if it?s all right to have his wife, Sarala Birla, by his side. ?She is my friend, philosopher and guide,? he smiles. True to his words, Sarala Birla, now 83, provides Basant Birla with dates, anecdotes and other tales whenever he forgets them.

In their home is a wall by the stairway dedicated to son Aditya Birla, who died of cancer when he was 52. Most of the pictures, especially of his childhood, were shot by Basant Birla who is passionate about photography and gave it up only when he turned 60. ?When my father (the venerable Ghanashyam Birla) gifted me a Kodak box camera in 1932, I was very excited. But I took to photography very seriously only in 1942-43 after completing my college,? he says.

Back then, whenever he could, ?sometimes for two, three, four hours,? he would take pictures of Sarala, their son Aditya and other members of the Birla family. ?When we went up to Mussoorie, I would experiment with light and shade and take pictures for hours. Sarala too was willing to model whenever I asked her and I must have taken hundreds of photographs of her,? he smiles.

His pictures have travelled all over the world and were recently on display at a show in the Birla Academy of Art and Culture in Kolkata, drawing many visitors. Soon the convesation veers to towards their rare collection of art, the value of which, ?runs into crores?.

At home, there are paintings by Jamini Roy. ?He used to come to us and exhort us to buy a few,? recalls Sarala Birla, ?and we picked up several, some for as little as Rs 500,? finishes Basant Birla. The collection also includes works by Nandalal Bose, Rabindranath Tagore et al. “We have two collections. One is owned by the Birla Academy of Art and Culture and the other is our private collection,” says Basant Birla proudly.

The private collection has been divided into three parts ? one set is already with grandson Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the $28- billion Aditya Birla Group, another with daughter Jayashree Mohta and the ?third set is at home? we will give it to our other daughter Manjushree.? Every year the paintings are taken out once to be aired for six/ eight hours. Many of the paintings were picked up when the British were quitting India and their collections were auctioned.

Ask them what is priceless in their collection and both point at 81 paintings of the illustrated Mahabharata, called Razm-nama, which Akbar got made in the 16th century. ?Our handicap is that our grandson is in Mumbai,? says Basant Birla, ?but he and other members of the family will look after the Birla Academy after us.? Adds Sarala Birla: ?We have a very good collection of miniatures.?

Just then, the phone rings and the bearer says it’s Kumar Mangalam on the line. ?Hello! Happy Birthday!,? says Sarala Birla into the receiver. This year, Kumar Mangalam, who has just turned 41, managed to get away to Goa on his birthday, June 14. ?Yes, he?s all right, giving an interview right now,? she replies as the grandson enquires about his grandfather. The grandfather too comes on the line and congratulates him on the Spice deal. ?If you are happy, I am happy too.?

Both grandparents are extremely proud of him. Basant Birla elaborates: ?He is very humble though he has achieved a lot at a very young age. His habits are also very good. We are old-fashioned people, so these things are important.?

For instance, Basant Birla tells us, ?We will not go for a lunch or dinner at a restaurant and spend Rs 5,000.?

He recalls his Hare School days when during classes VII-X his father would give him a monthly allowance of only Rs 5. ?Nowadays even children who are five years old have so many gadgets. In our times we were not pampered. There was strict control over us. I remember once our lunch box didn?t reach us and we ate from the hawkers. This created such a stir at home, all because we had eaten outside food,? he says.

We ask him what has his grandson imbibed from him. ?I am intelligent. He is very intelligent, too. He is popular, too. In my time, I started with Kesoram, expanded into new territories and now have at least 50 companies. He is expanding too? and is going to expand a lot more. His empire is already 10 times of what it was when he took over. I am very happy,? says Basant.

But there?s one major difference. “Most of Kumar Mangalam?s senior staff are from outside. I don?t have a single person from outside. I have tended my own people, they came from the colleges. Today, I have 50 people on my rolls of whom I can be proud of. They are honest, have integrity. I could have gone out in the market and bought someone for Rs 5 crore, but I didn?t do that. They joined me for Rs 2,000 ? 4,000 and grew all the way to the top. They have got complete affinity and respect for me.?

Both Basant and Sarala Birla admit that the times have changed too and Kumar Mangalam has a huge empire to run. ?But still when you buy people and when you create people, there?s a difference,? quips Basant Birla.

The Birlas start their day early. ?Sarala gets up at 2.30am, I get up at 4am.? As you gasp, Sarala Birla quietly puts in a word: ?We go to sleep by 8 pm.? Basant and Sarala Birla take a walk in the garden before breakfast at 6.15 am. ?I walk for an hour but when we are up in the hills, I walk 10 miles.? Both have been to Kedarnath at least 17 times, the last trip was seven years ago.

?After returning from office, I share notes with Sarala, tell her about some interesting letter or the highlights of my office and then after a wash and change, we meet at 6 for our daily puja before dinner at 6.45 pm,? he says.

Right through the hour-long interview, what is evident is the special bond the couple shares. ?She gets angry with me for taking so much time to read the newspapers,? he says. Even as she smiles, he adds: ?She tells me I must finish reading six papers in 15 minutes.? Happy in each other?s company, they rarely socialise. ?We meet six-seven friends we have once a week for half an hour or so.?

But as patrons of the Birla Academy of Art and Culture in Kolkata and the Sangeet Kala Mandir, they usually attend all functions. There are 45 functions at Kala Mandir alone. ?In fact, I quit photography because of my commitment to the Birla Academy,? says Basant Birla.

Before we wrap up, they show us some of their paintings, including one by Bikash Bhattacharjee of Sarala Birla when she was in her twenties. They tell us about Switzerland, where the group has an office at Zug. ?International industries have offices there because taxes are low.? The Birlas have a home, too. ?We go to Switzerland every year in May and to London, where there?s an office and home too, every October for three weeks each? it’s all fixed.?

Says Basant Birla: ?At Zug, I work for the first five days and then I walk, walk and walk. It?s an old hobby and it also keeps me fit.? The couple also visits Delhi and Mumbai every two months on official work.

?Oh, we must tell you about Lonavala as well,? pipes up Sarala Birla. The couple retreats to Lonavala once a year during the rains. ?We have got our own house in Lonavala. We take our sisters there. For five days, I don?t work at all. I only wait for the rain to stop so that we can walk around the compound,? laughs the 88 yera-old.

Though you never want him to stop, the retirement question comes up. ?I won?t allow him to retire. Neither will Kumar Mangalam,? insists Sarala Birla. Says Basant Birla: ?I had told them let me retire when I am 90 so that I can enjoy another kind of life. Let us go to Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath. I have done this morning to evening schedule in the office for a long time.?

But Sarala Birla will have none of it. ?You are sleeping when you want to sleep, travelling when you want to travel? you are doing whatever you want to do, then why retire??

Why, indeed?

Fact File

* Basant Kumar Birla is the chairman of the BK Birla Group

* The Group has 50 companies, led by Kesoram Industries, Jay Shree Tea & Industries, Century Enka and Century Textiles & Industries

* Both Basant and Sarala Birla are patrons of arts and attend every function of the Birla Academy of Art and Culture and Sangeet Kala Mandir in Kolkata

* At 88, he still keeps an eight-hour schedule in office and checks company accounts every month