Months after Ratan Tata's death, his aide Shantanu Naidu shares childhood memories: 'Come walk with me to a...'

Shantanu Naidu, a close associate of the late Ratan Tata, recently shared nostalgic memories of his childhood, reflecting on a time untouched by technology. In a heartfelt video posted on LinkedIn, Naidu, now General Manager at Tata Motors, took viewers on a journey back to a simpler era.

Dressed in corporate attire, he began by putting on his socks for work, then invited people to "walk with him to a time when technology didn’t plague us." Speaking in Marathi, the 32-year-old talked about summer vacations filled with laughter, outdoor games, and innocent mischief.

“The best thing about our generation was that there wasn’t a single phone,” he said. He described playing games like dabda ispice, chor-police, and hide-and-seek, where friends would hide him so well that his mother couldn’t find him—though that often led to scoldings at home.

He recalled the thrill of stealing mangoes and blackberries, chasing butterflies, and racing bicycles. 

Reflecting on those moments, he expressed gratitude for experiencing childhood without digital screens. “Childhood would have been destroyed by phones. And now that we are adults, adulthood is getting destroyed by them. But those were truly the days,” he said.

His reflections resonated deeply with many on LinkedIn. One user commented, “It’s funny how sometimes you have no photos or videos of the memories you cherished the most. They are all just in your head.” Another wrote, “What a fortune to have grown up without phones.”

Shantanu Naidu was appointed General Manager and Head of Strategic Initiatives at Tata Motors last month. He represents the fifth generation of his family to work in the Tata Group.