A greying, slightly bent man asked for a table for two at the Sea Lounge, the iconic coffee shop at the Taj Hotels’ flagship hotel in Mumbai, a few years ago. The restaurant was buzzing with customers there to sit by the windows and watch the sun melt into the Arabian Sea outside.
There were no free tables, could he give his name for the waitlist? The young hostess asked. “Ratan Tata,” the man put his name down and disappeared into the hotel’s corridors before hotel staff could come looking to find the chairman emeritus of the Tata Group, which also owns Taj Hotels.
