Ratan Tata, the former chairman of Tata Sons, who lived and died a bachelor, had four “great loves” in his life but never married any of them. This is revealed by his biographer, Thomas Mathew, whose book Ratan Tata: A Life was published just weeks after Ratan Tata’s death. Mathew worked closely with Ratan Tata while writing the book but it’s not an authorised biography.
In a 45-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, which reveals in detail Ratan Tata’s personality, his private life, the things that mattered to him, his relationship with his dogs, Tito and Tango, and his care for his staff, in particular, his cook, Rajen, Mathew also speaks about the four “great loves” in Tata’s life. Two of these were American women, one Parsi and the fourth a Gujarati.
The interview also focusses on Ratan Tata’s affection and love for his dogs. It seems, more often than not, he would name them Tito and Tango. He had, at least, three separate sets of dogs with the same name. When one of the Tangos broke his leg in 2008 Ratan Tata: “scanned the world for a vet who could save the limb” and eventually flew Tango to Minnesota.
Ratan Tata took particular care of his staff. Of Rajen, his cook, Mathew says Ratan Tata took great care of “Rajen’s every need, or rather, pampered him”. For instance, when Rajen wanted to learn fishing, Tata spent hours finding a suitable fishing rod for him.
