2 weeks Ago By Ria Kapoor
Shantanu Naidu, Ratan Tata's young assistant, had once called Tata 'Millennial Dumbledore'. Why> Read on to know! New Delhi: Shantanu Naidu, who had been Ratan Tata’s assistant since 2018, had once called him ‘Millenial Dumbledore’. This was in conversation with Humans Of Bombay.
Shantanu Naidu graduated from Pune University in 2014 with a degree in mechanical engineering. Shortly after, he began his career at the Tata Group, working as a design engineer. One evening, while returning home from work, he came across the lifeless body of a dog lying on the road, which deeply affected him.
When Naidu called Tata the ‘Millenial Dumbledore’ Determined to take action, he gathered a few friends and came up with the idea to design collars with reflectors, allowing drivers to spot stray dogs from a distance. The following day, they went out and fitted the reflective collars on the street dogs, aiming to prevent similar tragedies in the future. “I didn’t know if it would work, but when I woke up the next day, I received a message saying that a dog had been saved because of the collar.
It felt amazing,” Shantanu said. Slowly, the demand for reflective dog collars increased but Shantanu was faced with the challenge of not having enough funds for the project. His father suggested that he write to Ratan Tata.
He wrote a handwritten letter and then forgot about it. Two months later, Shantanu Naidu received a personally signed letter from the legendary industrialist Ratan Tata, expressing his desire to meet the young employee. Naidu visited Tata’s office in Mumbai, where he was introduced to Tata’s dogs, and Tata offered to fund his dog collar initiative.
‘Goodbye, my lighthouse’ Not long after, Naidu left India to pursue an MBA at Cornell University. Before departing, he made a promise to Tata that once he completed his studies, he would dedicate himself to working for the Tata Trust. Tata gladly accepted this commitment, as Naidu shared in his conversation with Humans of Bombay.
Upon returning to India, Naidu received a call from Tata, who said, “I have a lot of work to be done in my office. Would you like to be my assistant?” Naidu said yes to the job and started working with Tata in 2018. “People my age have a hard time finding the right set of friends, the right mentor and the right kind of boss.
But I can’t believe my lucky stars that I found all of these humans in one superhuman named Mr. Ratan Tata. People affectionately call him Boss, but I like to call him the ‘Millennial Dumbledore’-I think that name suits him the best.
” he said. As Tata passed away on Wednesday, Naidu took to his social media to post his condolences. “The hole that this friendship has now left with me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill.
Grief is the price to pay for love. Goodbye, my dear lighthouse,” he wrote. Click for more latest Viral news .
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