Remembering Ratan Tata: When Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus ‘almost got married’ in LA

On October 9, 2024, India Inc.'s heart stopped from a moment. It was on this day that Ratan Tata, Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus, passed away at 86 after contributing to India's corporate success for decades.

A year later, the void still remains.

The Tata Sons head dedicated his life to make India better through his contributions both in technology and through philanthropy. Ratan Tata never got married, and in a throwback interview, he shared the reason why he did not.

‘Almost got married’

After completing his studies from the Cornell University in the US, Ratan Tata joined an architecture firm in Los Angeles. It was during that time he fell in love, he told Humans of Bombay in a 2020 interview.

“After college, I landed a job at an architecture firm in LA, where I worked for two years. It was a great time -- the weather was beautiful, I had my own car and I loved my job. It was in LA that I fell in love and almost got married,” h said in the interview.

However, Ratan Tata had to move back to India at the time as he was away from his grandmother, his pillar of support, who had not been keeping well for almost seven years.

“So I came back to visit her and 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, and the relationship fell apart,” he shared.

Ratan Tata on his grandmother

Ratan Tata had a special connection with his grandmother, who supported him through thick and thin — especially when he got bullied during his parents' divorce — he shared in the interview.

“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 have fought back against,” he said.

The late industrialist shared how she would support him, whether it was to do with his hobbies or studies.

“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 the 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,” he said.

“It was because of her that even though I enrolled for mechanical engineering, I switched majors and graduated with a degree in architecture. My father was quite upset and there was a fair bit of rancour, but I was finally my own, independent person in college, and it was my grandmother who taught me that courage to speak up can also be soft and dignified,” Ratan Tata added.