I Came Upon a Lighthouse by Shantanu Naidu

I Came Upon a Lighthouse is a memoir by Shantanu Naidu about his years of knowing, working for and being a friend of Ratan Tata, former chairman of the Tata Sons empire, a doyen of Indian industry, keen aviator, devoted dog-lover and inspiration to millions of Indians worldwide.

The ball gets rolling with Shantanu Naidu’s idea to create glow-in-the-dark collars for street dogs so they wouldn’t be hit by passing motorists and bikers. With the support of his friends and a neighbourhood tailor, they made thousands of such collars, saving many lives. Motopaws, their small start-up soon grew beyond Pune, the city of its birth. Though he couldn’t have known it at the time, Motopaws was a crucial step in Shantanu's journey towards Ratan Naval Tata.

In a tale that proves that life is, indeed, stranger than fiction, Shantanu Naidu went on to meet Mr Tata and form a bond with him. Ratan Tata offered him a job at Tata Trusts post his MBA at Cornell University which Naidu accepted with pleasure. Another nudge from Fate, landed Shantanu in Ratan Tata’s office, directly assisting the man himself.

Naidu’s writing is simple and focussed on communicating his experiences rather than pontificating about management credos.

“I like to capture experiences. But what I love is to share them. It’s not a popularity thing. It’s a character trait that is so fundamental that when I experience something beautiful, I want everyone to experience it with me.”

This is not to say that there aren’t lessons to be learnt from this book. Even without being highlighted, they shine through in the anecdotes shared. Like when Naidu writes about meeting a team from a medical school regarding innovative solutions for primary healthcare.

“Once the team made their introductions, Mr Tata introduced me: ‘This is my colleague, Shantaa-nu. He has recently joined my office…’ And I don’t remember a word after that. He called me a colleague. He could have said assistant. Junior. New hire. A lot of things that didn’t put me on such a level. But he said ‘colleague’, and he has introduced me as one ever since.

As much as his humility is at play in this incident, one has to understand the ripple effects of such gestures in business. The moment you address and treat subordinates as colleagues, there is little room for disagreement, and the subordinates really put in the effort to live up to that treatment.”

A moment like that teaches what stacks of management books may not. And when it features a person as universally respected as Ratan Tata, the message goes deep.

It’s not all rainbows and sunshine though. The reader gets a glimpse of Tata’s sterner side when professional lessons were imparted without favour. Writing about a time when he received a talking-to from Mr Tata, Naidu states,

“In hindsight, these outbursts were lessons in disguise. Cumulatively, they were the orientation I was looking for. Moulding doesn’t happen with cotton and wool. It happens with heat and hammer. It happens with confrontation, criticism and uncomfortable conversations.”

Being his memoir, Shantanu Naidu is the narrator of I Came Upon a Lighthouse but the hero is clearly Ratan Tata. I’m willing to bet a pretty penny that anyone who reads this book will be charmed by Mr Tata’s unfailing humility, consideration for others and time-management skills.

This was a man who headed more than 200 companies under the umbrella of Tata Sons in addition to being the chairman of Tata Trusts, the philanthropic arm of the Tata empire. He was also on many corporate and philanthropic boards. Yet, he found time to read a wide variety of books (The Art of Racing in the Rain was one of his recommendations to Naidu), watch almost every other movie on Netflix and be so generous with his time and attention.

In an age of bombast and conspicuous consumption, I Came Upon a Lighthouse shows us a side of Ratan Tata not often witnessed in the public domain—his humour, shyness and simplicity. He comes across as down-to-earth and immensely relatable.

“After dinner, like an excited uncle, he showed us forwarded animal videos on his phone.”

Reading this book, it is easy to forget Mr Tata’s immense material wealth, overshadowed as it is by his grace and modesty. In a delightful reminiscence about visiting Mr Tata with his new car, a Nano christened ‘Lily’, Shantanu writes,

“The moment Lily arrived in Mumbai, I took her straight to Mr Tata. He did the same thing my parents did, only he was a million times cuter. He went around examining every inch of it, opening doors, playing with switches, looking through the window, looking out of the window.”

Many books have been and will be written about Mr Tata but with I Came Upon a Lighthouse, Naidu humanises a titan for generations that have grown up idolising him.

“I would write about us and our adventures together, and how I saw him, colours and shades of him unknown to the world. Life beyond the great steel wall of ‘industry doyen’. Because at the end of the day, the country forgets that he too, laughing, crying or morose, is a human among us all. With moods and emotions, worries and joys.”

To his credit, Naidu writes also, without excuse, about the times he was whiny, self-absorbed and less than truthful. It’s what makes his account feel authentic and relatable. That said, his likeability is greatly boosted by his dog, Winter who, I’m sure, is a total lovebug!

While I’ve long believed that knowing Mr Tata in any capacity must be a tremendous privilege. However, having read this book, I can only begin to imagine the extent of Shantanu’s personal loss when Mr Tata passed away. What can one say except grief is the price we pay for love. And that perhaps, grace and kindness are the means to pay it forward.

I enjoyed reading I Came Upon a Lighthouse. It made me laugh and warmed my heart. I’m glad to have purchased instead of borrowing this book, because all author proceeds from it will be invested in the welfare of animals in need. It makes me happy to think there’s an animal who was fed or received medical treatment from the small amount I spent on this book. Or perhaps, there’s a dog running around with a flashy collar! That makes it a win all the way.