THE RATAN TATA YOU DID NOT KNOW

The face of India's oldest mega-corp for as long as most of us can remember, Ratan Tata, who died at the age of 86 last month, was both a well-known public figure and an enigma. As the first chairman to hand over the reins to a non-Tata, he seemed to be breaking the mould, and not for the first time. But he was also a steely guardian of corporate tradition. Thomas Mathew's newly-published biography is based on hundreds of hours of conversation with Tata as well as many of his confidants. Excerpts

- THOMAS MATHEW

RATAN TATA A LIFE

HARPERCOLLINS INDIA

Price: ₹1,499 Pages: 712

1944 Childhood Lesson

Ratan's parents had had a love marriage, a rarity in the socially conservative India and the equally traditional Parsi community of the pre-Independence era. But their whirlwind courting could not survive the normal vicissitudes of marriage and in 1944, they separated, with Soonoo moving to her parents' house. Soonoo filed for divorce and it was a traumatic period for the children. Ratan was going on ten and Jimmy seven when they had to do many rounds of the family court. It was an 'unpleasant' and 'hurtful' experience, Ratan remembers. Soonoo eventually married Sir Jamsetji Jejeebhoy. Ratan says that separations or divorces did not happen 'every day' then as they do today. The rift between his parents was sensationalised and the details of their separation, both true and imagined, travelled fast. It became a topic of discussion in schools. Both Ratan and Jimmy were 'ragged' and humiliated in school by their peers.

1962 First Love

Interestingly, during this period, Ratan found his first true love too. She was nineteen-year-old Carolyn Emmons, the daughter of Frederick Emmons. Her father introduced her to Ratan. She said that she was attracted to Ratan at first sight. Her parents were also very fond of him. Her father 'loved' Ratan, Carolyn says. Her mother 'thought it was the most wonderful thing that could happen to Carolyn, she just thought he was wonderful [and] he was so polite', she adds. But their relationship was short-lived.