IT WAS JUST THE second meeting with Ratan Tata for a book that I was writing, and I got a call ahead of it from his office. I thought the interview had been put off and I was worried as it was important for the book. But, the call was to inform that Tata would be delayed by 20 minutes and to check whether I was fine with it. I was floored.
During the interview, Tata was restless and was checking something every now and then. I realised he was not there with me. After we wound up the interview, I asked him if everything was fine. He told me everything was fine, just that his dog was unwell that day and he had to fly to Singapore the same evening.
The next day, an announcement came from Singapore about the formation of a joint venture between Tata and Singapore Airlines for a new airline called Vistara. Amid such an important development, he seemed more worried about his dog’s health!
When we started meeting for the book, Tata was no longer the chairman and had moved into a small private office in an old building in south Mumbai. I asked him why he was not operating out of Bombay House. He said even J.R.D. Tata had done the same thing. “From the very next day after handing over the charge to me, J.R.D. stopped coming to Bombay House. If I continue to go to Bombay House, people would continue to consult me and the authority of the new chairman would get undermined,” he said. It says a lot about his attitude.
The deal between Tata and Singapore Airlines was expected to happen earlier, but was apparently stalled by a politician. The name of the politician was leaked earlier by a business daily. I asked Tata about it, but he didn’t mention the name even once.
You may be wealthy, but carrying simplicity and humility along with it is what made him so admirable. He was a class apart.
―As told to Nachiket Kelkar
Kuber is a Marathi journalist and author of Tatayan, a book on the Tatas.