Friendship has no age or gender barrier; the only barrier is matching the same mentality! Here, you will just read one true friendship story, which will prove to you that friendship has no age limit. An unlikely friendship, an innovative business mind, and an absolute love for stray dogs all these three phrases will going to define this one millennial who is also a close friend of none other than business magnate Ratan Tata. Want to know more about their friendship? Then just scroll down and continue your reading!
Shantanu Naidu, the 28-year-old guy who you must have seen hanging out with Ratan Tata. He is the 5th generation of his family, working in the Tata group, and also he is the first one to work closely with the man himself. Shantanu is a Mechanical Engineering Graduate from the University of Pune and joined Elxsi as a Junior Design Engineer.
It is quite interesting when he was working as a junior engineer in Motopaws; he came up with the idea for the organization that would change his life itself. As he had to work night shifts, he noticed that dogs were being run over by cars on the street. When he tried to investigate the cause, he found that it was happening because people could not see the dogs at night. And to prevent this, he decided to create ‘glow in the dark’ collars for dogs to make them visible from a certain distance, without street light. Due to insufficient funds, the organization used denim pants as their base material to create that collar. Shantanu and his team have made around 500 collars for the dogs. In the end, it became a huge success, and it was highlighted in the newsletter. Then he got a personal invitation from another canine lover, Ratan Tata. And the story begins!
“While Motopaws was scaling up, we became closer. Work emails slowly turned into asking questions about one another”- Shantanu Naidu.
Soon after, Shantanu left India to study in the US. The graduation ceremony was attended by Ratan Tata too. When he returned to India, he started working as Tata’s Business Assistant.
According to Shantanu, it is an honor for him to work with Ratan Tata, and also he says he does not feel any generation gap while working with Tata and gets to learn something new every minute. In return, Shantanu’s millennial impact has turned Ratan Tata into a social media star at 84. Now Tata has more than 5 million followers.
“I enjoy seeing Shantanu’s freshness and concern. We never see enough of this ‘dog eat dog’ world we live in”- Ratan Tata.
Last year Shantanu launched his book “I Came Upon a Lighthouse: A Short Memoir of Life with Ratan Tata,” which explores the relationship between the millennial Naidu and the business tycoon Ratan Tata. Not only that, they even watch films such as ‘The Other Guys’ and ‘The Lone Ranger’ together. This proves that friendship knows no age, gender, or generation barriers.
“Intergenerational friendships are a kind, meaningful, authentic way to help the elderly living alone with companionship and warmth in the way that Good Fellows is Offering. I am keen to see how Good Fellows progresses and wish Shantanu and his young team all the very best”- Ratan Tata.
