Entrepreneur | Posted on
“I came seriously close to getting married four times and each time I backed off in fear or for one reason or another,” Ratan Tata said in his recent interview to CNN International’s Talk Asia.
What kind of fear is he discussing here is still not clear.
In India, in particular, we take marriages a bit loosely, treating it as some kind of social obligation that one must essentially go through. As soon as the girl gets to 24 years mark and guy 27-28 years, they must marry and settle for the conventional life.
However, the marriage as an institution should be optional. It is one of the things we can learn from the west. With no social and emotional pressure, one must be FREE to make this incredibly important life decision. Whether she/he wants to get married or not.
And this is the same decision Ratan Tata likely made decades back. He decided not to get married. Now why one makes such decisions can vary. Some want to live alone, others have people’s problems. Some want to travel and never settle down, others simply do not find someone who clicks with their personality.
In the case of Ratan Tata, it seems to be a bit of his ambition that stemmed from his fear of commitment and possible division of his attention. I think it is quite common for ambitious people like the billionaire industrialist. One of the famous stories in this regard is that of former USA president Barack Obama. Although he’s married, he had a girlfriend back in the college days that he loved but never got married because he was afraid that might come in his way of political ambitions.
There’s a reason why Ratan Tata is India’s topmost billionaire industrialist. There’s a reason why his companies are globally recognized, and why is counted amount the best entrepreneurs in the world. His hard work, undying commitment, persistence, and an ungodly amount of discipline are what played the major role in his success.
Indeed, I am not saying that was he married, he would have never succeeded. But perhaps he wouldn’t have been this committed to the cause if he was married and with babies. And this was likely his biggest fear for not getting married. We’ve all heard about the tales of Steve Jobs and his personal life; how his personal relationships struggled, how his girlfriend struggled and how his kid had a tough life. Maybe Ratan Tata was instinctively saving himself from any of such situation.
Of course, these are just general perceptions and guesswork as to why Billionaire industrialist Ratan Tata never got married. He’s the only person who can reveal what kind of fear he had of getting married.
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