'His First Love On Planet Earth Were Animals'

Most of the thousands of people who turned up at the NCPA in south Mumbai on Thursday had never met Ratan Tata. They were there to pay personal homage to a man who they adored, respected and worshipped for his business achievements, his well documented acts of kindness and his concern for India and Indians.

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Renu Balakrishnan, who lived in the same building in Colaba, south Mumbai, as Mr Tata for some years, tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih about his love for cats and dogs.

There were 18 cats in the building when I moved in about 20 years ago and Mr Tata was in charge of them. He was a godfatherly figure to them.

He had a man called Michael who fed them in the morning and evening. The cats would wander all around and were much disliked by quite a few residents, but they didn't say much because the cats were under Mr Tata's umbrella.

One day I was told that Michael was no longer available. As an animal lover myself, I went on to inherit Mr Tata's cats.

I met him on his way to office one morning, and he looked at me and said, "Renu, your clients are waiting."

For a moment, I was taken aback. "Clients?" I asked and looked behind him to find the 18 cats, all looking hopefully at him and me.

That's how I inherited my 'clients'. He was very delighted because I looked after his cats, and that was our bond.

There used to be battles in the building because the cats would sit on people's Rolls Royces and other fancy cars, but Mr Tata and Mehli Mistry, his close associate, said the cats had to be fed on humanitarian grounds.

I got the cats sterilised and they lived happily till they passed away. Now there's only one left -- Mishu, the granddaughter from the line of the Original 18.

A few years ago Mr Tata moved out of the building with his staff and dogs to the Tata bungalow next door which he had designed himself.

He was very soft spoken and always impeccably dressed. He was seldom in a rush and walked calmly. I would catch him very briefly in the lift because he was on the third floor and I was on the second. He was very polite to all the staff and everyone around.

He kept to himself and did not have social gatherings or parties, but was very friendly when you met him in the passage or in the lift.

I think his first love on planet earth were animals.

His two German Shepherds were like his children. His earlier dog Tito had a problem with his backbone and sadly had to be put down. He fought to the end to keep him alive and was very distressed about his passing.

Later when my dog had hurt his back, I had got a dog K9 cart [a wheel chair] from America which helped my dog regain muscle strength.

When Mr Tata saw it, he asked me where I had got it from. I told him I had ordered it online at somebody's suggestion. He said "I wish I had known because then my dog could have also used it."

He felt so remorseful that had he known about it earlier, Tito could have had a life of quality for some more time.

These memories about his love for animals will always remain with me.

***

He would turn up in his old Tata Indica, dressed in the simplest of clothes with his dog, recalls Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).

It was 2001 and I was posted at Mumbai, in command of a helicopter unit based there. Whenever I was asked where I stayed, I would impress them with my reply.

"You know Ratan Tata's house -- Ashley House -- opposite Colaba Post Office? That's where we stay!"

Often, on my evening walks at the nearby golf course in the army area at one end of Colaba, I used to see the great man who I was in awe of.

He would turn up in his old Tata Indica, dressed in the simplest of clothes with his dog and attendant sitting in the rear, and sit down on the lush green grass.

As soon as he arrived, as if on cue, the entire lot of stray dogs in the golf course area would converge and sit around his car waiting to be fed the Parle Glucose biscuits carried in the boot of his vehicle.

Once a while a vet came along with Mr Tata and tended to some of the sick animals of the pack.

The feeding over, he would walk his big dog (who wore leather shoes!) for a while and depart as silently as he came. No shoo-shaa, no security aides, no fanfare!

A simple man with love for animals, Mr Ratan Tata was!

• FAREWELL, Mr TATA