From the unconditional love for his dog, Ray, to almost pursuing a career in agriculture, Nishtha Balagopal rounds up ten facts about Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the man of the moment at Tata Sons
1. On January 12, Natarajan Chandrasekaran was appointed the Chairman of Tata & Sons. Interim Chairman Ratan Tata will hand over the baton of responsibility on February 21.
Chandrasekaran, who was previously the Chief of Tata Consultancy Services, will now head the $100 billion conglomerate. Here are some interesting facts about the man who will now take centre stage.
His life is a perfect rag to riches story. Chandrasekaran was born in a town called Mohanur near Namakkal (around 400 km from Chennai) in Tamil Nadu. He now resides at a sea-facing apartment in the country’s financial
capital.
2. Chandra or Chandru, as he is fondly known in the upper echelons of his inner circle, walked three kilometres daily to attend his Tamil-medium school. Growing up with five siblings, Chandra excelled in Math at school. He went on to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Sciences from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, and then a Master’s degree in Computer Applications from Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirappalli.
3. After completing his Bachelor’s, he had considered taking up agriculture as his career as per his father’s wishes. But Chandra soon realised that the field was not suited to him, and as such, went on to do his master’s degree.
4. Chandrasekaran is not a member of the Tata family or related to it. He is the first non-Parsi chairman of Tata Sons. He is also a part-time non-official Director with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He was appointed to the RBI board in March last year for a four-year tenure.
5. Chandrasekaran comes from a family of achievers. His elder brother N Ganapathy Subramaniam is Chief Operating Officer, TCS. His eldest brother N Srinivasan is Group Finance Director of Murugappa Group.
6. Chandra does not have a Management degree and has learnt from real-life experiences to run a company. His strength lies in taking an active interest in his employees and their family, coupled with an impeccable capacity to remember people.
7. Chandra was close to his dog, Ray, a beagle, which died of cancer in 2014. He apparently flew from the US to be with his dog during the trying period.
8. He is a marathon runner. He participated in the Mumbai Marathon in 2008 and 2009. He ran the New York Marathon in 2009, the Chicago Marathon in 2010, and the Berlin and Boston Marathons in 2011, in addition to at least eight half-marathons in Amsterdam, Prague, Stockholm, Salzburg and Tokyo. He is a fitness lover and started taking an active interest in health after 2007. He was not very athletic in his school days and dabbled only in cricket.
9. His brother Srinivasan describes all the three brothers as religious but recounts that Chandra in particular learnt Vedic hymns from a scholar.
10. Chandra is an avid photographer. His Mumbai office desk, we hear, has pictures of his trek in the Himalayas. He is also a music buff, and has a keen ear for Carnatic and Hindustani Classical music, and old Tamil songs as well, which remind him of his home and his growing up years.
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 "Natarajan Chandrasekaran")
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