'Where will dogs go?' What Ratan Tata asked Chandra on Bombay House refit

Late Ratan Tata always ensured employees are taken care of along with the well-being of their families across the Tata group companies, which shaped a number of leaders across the conglomerate, and there really was no one like him, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Monday.

Recollecting his association with Tata (86) who passed away last week, in a post on networking platform LinkedIn, he noted an instance about renovating the group headquarters ‘Bombay House’. “... I expressed a desire to renovate our headquarters, Bombay House.” Chandrasekaran recollected when he “mentioned to Tata about Bombay House, he (Tata) said, ‘May I ask you something? When you say ‘renovate’, do you mean ‘vacate’?’ I explained that we planned to move everyone to a nearby office.”

Tata wanted to know where the dogs, which were often seen at the Bombay House reception, would go.
 

Chandrasekaran assured that a kennel would be built for them, to which Tata responded saying ‘Really?’ while considering the proposal. “When the renovation of Bombay House was complete, Tata wanted to see the kennel first. He was very happy to see how thoughtful the kennel’s design was, and how well the dogs would be cared for,” he noted.