The stone monument always mesmerised me: Ratan Tata

He is an icon in Mumbai and the torchbearer of a business family that has had a huge influence on the city. But there’s one thing that still gets the extremely calm and composed Ratan Tata emotional — the carnage (terror attack on 26th November, 2008) inflicted on his hotel, the most well-known landmark of the city — The Taj Colaba. He said, at a recent event, that the way his staff members braved the attacks displayed the true spirit of Mumbai.

Tata recalled that he’d been visiting the Apollo Bunder right from the time he was a school boy. “I often visited visited the Taj as a small boy and continued coming back here as I went through college. The stone monument that overlooked the city of Bombay (then),  and which later became a landmark of the city, has always mesmerised me, Especially in terms of the effect it has had on everybody. It has always been a symbol of solidarity,” says Tata.
His stoic demeanour was betrayed by  a slight quiver in his voice as he reflected on the topic that changed the history of Mumbai forever.

“Those of us who witnessed the carnage that took place over the three days witnessed another part of the Taj — the spirit of the people. The Taj, despite its solidarity, despite its majestic being, could not have been worth it without the management and the staff,” said Tata.

“They stood by the Taj at great risk of themselves and sometimes at the ultimate risk of their lives, to protect the people who were within it. That became the symbol of strength of Mumbai and the strength of the city. They did get hurt, did get mauled but they didn’t fall. The people of the Taj are in fact the life and the spirit of the great institution,” reiterated Tata.