Did you know Ratan Tata 'fell in love, almost got married'?

Ratan Tata spoke to Humans of Bombay and shared that he had a happy childhood even though he and his brother were ragged in school

Industrialist Ratan Tata recently shared insights from his life where he mentioned about his parents' divorce, growing up with his grandmother, studying at Cornell University and falling in love. Ratan Tata spoke to Humans of Bombay and shared that he had a happy childhood even though he and his brother were ragged in school because of their parents' divorce. Ratan Tata was then brought up by his grandmother.

He also opened up about the differences he had with his father. "I wanted to learn to play the violin, my father insisted on the piano. I wanted to go to college in the US, he insisted on the UK. I wanted to be an architect, he insisted on me becoming an engineer."

 

 

 

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(1/3) “I had a happy childhood, but as my brother & I got older, we faced a fair bit of ragging & personal discomfort because of our parent’s divorce, which in those days wasn’t as common. But my grandmother brought us up in every way. Soon after when my mother remarried, the boys at school started saying all kinds of things about us–constantly & aggressively. But our grandmother taught us to retain dignity at all costs, a value that’s stayed with me until today. It involved walking away from these situations, which otherwise we would’ve fought back against. I remember, after WW2, she took my brother & I for summer holidays to London. It was there that the values were really hammered in. She’d tell us, ‘don’t say this’ or ‘keep quiet about that’ & that’s where ‘dignity above everything else’ really embedded in our minds. And she’s always been there for us. It’s difficult now to say who’s right or wrong. I wanted to learn to play the violin, my father insisted on the piano. I wanted to go to college in the US, he insisted on UK. I wanted to be an architect, he insisted on me becoming an engineer. If it weren’t for my grandmother, I wouldn’t have ended up at Cornell University in the US. It was because of her that even though I enrolled for mechanical engineering, I switched majors & graduated with a degree in architecture. My father was upset & there was a fair bit of rancour, but I was finally my own, independent person in college & it was my grandmother who taught me that courage to speak up can also be soft & dignified. After college, I landed a job at an architecture firm in LA, where I worked for 2 years. It was a great time–the weather was beautiful, I had my own car & loved my job. It was in LA that I fell in love & almost got married. But at the same time I’d made the decision to move back at least temporarily since I had been away from my grandmother who wasn’t keeping too well for almost 7 years. So I came back to visit her & thought that the person I wanted to marry would come to India with me, but because of the 1962 Indo-China war her parent’s weren’t okay with her making the move anymore & the relationship fell apart.”

A post shared by Humans of Bombay (@officialhumansofbombay) onFeb 12, 2020 at 4:17am PST

Furthur, he shared how he fell in love with a girl and almost got married. He took a decision of moving back for a while in order to be with his grandmother. However, when he went back to get his girlfriend to India, the relationship fell apart as her parents were not okay making the move because of the 1962 Indo-China war.

Along with the post, throwback images of Ratan Tata were also shared on the post.

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