A foreign tourist once remarked that he flew to India on an airline (Air India) owned by Tata, travelled in a bus made by Tatas, stayed in a hotel (Taj) belonging to Tatas, relished his morning Tetley tea (Tata), before he could realise how time went by he was looking at a his Titan watch, the list could be long, one can imagine the contribution of the house of Tatas to the industry and the society. A conglomerate that manufactured a pin to a plane, salt to software. When Ratan Tata took control of the company it was a fragmented and decentralised company having a turnover of 4 billion, Ratan infused new dynamics of expansions and take overs of international brands like Corus (steel), Jaguar-Land-Rover and Tetley tea and many others, by 2012 the Tata group had broken the ceiling of 100 billion turnover, the first Indian company to reach such heights. Ratan Tata studied at the Campion School, Mumbai, until 8th grade, he then continued his studies at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and the Riverdale Country School in New York City, from which he graduated in 1955.After graduating from high school, Tata enrolled in Cornell University, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1959. Sir Ratan was like a multifaceted diamond having many God given virtues and skills, we will only focus on the most precious one.
Ratan thePhilanthropist: - In the year 2008, Tata gifted Cornell $50 million, to his alma mater becoming the biggest international donor in the university's history. Tata Hall at the University of California, San Diego is a state-of-the-art research facility that was opened in November 2018. The building is named after the Tata Trusts, who donated $70 million to UC San Diego in 2016 to establish the Tata Institute for Genetics. Tata Trusts under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata provided a grant of ₹750 million to the Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science to study mechanisms underlying the cause of Alzheimer's disease and to evolve methods for its early diagnosis and treatment. Ratan Tata is one of the highest paid executives, but he spends his earning funding charities in education, medicine and healthcare. Ratan’s donations have brought emotional tears of gratitude and joy to many. At a function where he donated 200 wheelchairs to disabled children one child embraced his foot, looked up to him and said he would like to see his face in heaven. Ratan was compassionate towards abandoned dogs he built a special facility for them, a dog adopted from Goa named ‘Goa’ did not eat and stayed next to his coffin showing its loyalty to his departed master. He had given special instructions not to shoo away any strays that come to Bombay House and the Hotel Taj. A very humble honest to the core personality lived a simple life, shying away from spotlight, but naturally attracted limelight. Honoured with Padma Bhushan (2000), Padma Vibhushan (2008) Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (2014), recipient of countless awards considered the foremost icon of the industry and a mentor of startups. The biological clock has stopped ticking, the Titan has departed, a tearful Adios (‘tata’) to Sir Ratan Tata, the chime of heavenly bells will resound to your home coming, may your charitable spirit rekindle the fire in the next generation of Tatas and your generosity be emulated by the next generation of industry barons.
