
27-year-old Shantanu Naidu, a young boy from Mumbai recently landed his dream job with industrialist Ratan Tata, all thanks to his initiative of saving stray dogs. Tata who is a dog lover himself was so moved by Naidu's humble endeavour of saving stray canines that he offered him a job as his assistant.
In a Facebook post shared by the 'Humans of Bombay' on Wednesday, the 27-year-old explains how he landed his dream job with Tata. The post has since gone viral on social media.
Naidu in his post, explains how his story began. The 27-year-old who started working at the Tata Group after graduating in 2014, once witnessed a stray dog's death on a road which made him very upset. The incident affected Naidu so much that he decided to do something to avoid such accidents in future. Hence, he made collars with reflectors on them to help drivers see the dogs from afar.
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"I knew that I had to do something. So I called a few friends & made a collar with reflectors on it, for drivers to see the dog from afar. The next day, we went & put these collars on stray dogs. I didn't know if it would work, but when I received a message saying that a dog had been saved because of the collar-it felt amazing," he said.
Although the worthy cause was commended by everyone but Naidu couldn't manage to get any funding to design more collars for bulk orders. This was when his father advised Naidu to pen a letter to Ratan Tata as he also loved dogs, but the young boy was apprehensive.
"I was hesitant, but then I thought, 'Why not?' So I wrote him a handwritten letter & forgot about it," Naidu stated.
But, what ensued after two months, changed his life and for good. Naidu got a letter written by Tata. "Two months later, I received a letter from Mr Ratan Tata himself! When I opened it, it said that he loved our work & would like to meet me-I couldn't believe it," he enunciated.
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Tata called Naidu to his office in Mumbai a few days later telling him how touched he was after getting to know about the young boy's initiative and also agreed to fund his venture. The 27-year-old soon left to do his masters abroad but promised Tata that he would work for the Tata Trust once he comes back to the country.
"A few days later I met him at his office in Mumbai. He told me,'I'm deeply touched by the work you do!' I still get goosebumps thinking about it. He then took me to see his dogs & that's how our friendship began. He also funded our venture! I left for my masters soon, but I promised him that once I finished, I would work for the Tata Trust & he accepted my request," Naidu stated.
After returning to India, Naidu received a call from Tata offering him a job as his assistant which he (Naidu) yes to. "As soon as I came back to India, he called me & said 'I have a lot of work to be done in my office. Would you like to be my assistant?'-I didn't know how to react. So I took a deep breath, & a few seconds later said 'Yes!' he said in the post.
Calling Tata a superhuman, the 27-year-old concluded, "It's been 18 months since I've been working for him & even now, I have to pinch myself to know that this isn't a dream. People my age have a hard time finding the right set of friends, the right mentor & the right kind of boss. But I can't believe my stars that I found all these humans in one superhuman named Mr Ratan Tata. People lovingly call him Boss, but I like to call him the 'Millennial Dumbledore'-I think that name suits him the best."
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