They say you have gone ..It’s too hard to bear your loss: Simi Garewal remembers friend and ex-lover Ratan Tata

Mumbai: As India mourns the demise of national icon and industrialist Ratan Tata on Wednesday, his former lover, friend and yesteryear Bollywood diva Simi Garewal shared an emotional post to express her sense of loss.

“They say you have gone ..It’s too hard to bear your loss..too hard.. Farewell my friend..#RatanTata,” Simi Garewall wrote in a post.

Actress-turned-talk show host Simi Garewal in an interview with The Times of India in 2011 admitted to having dated Ratan Tata.

Describing Tata, she told the TOI: “Ratan and I go back a long way. He’s perfection, he’s got a sense of humour, is modest, and the perfect gentleman. Money was never his driving force. He’s not as relaxed in India as he is abroad.”

Although their romance did not lead to marriage, the two remained close friends.

The personal life of India’s most beloved industrialist and philanthropist Ratan Tata, who passed away at the age of 86, has remained much of a mystery.

A man of honour, achievements in his professional life acted as a mask over his personal life, which Tata left much to the people’s imagination.

In an interview with Simi Garewal, Tata revealed he felt lonely at times for remaining single all throughout his life.

He said, “There are many times I feel lonely for not having a wife or family.”

“There was a whole series of things, timing, my absorption in work. There were many things, I came close to getting married a few times and it didn’t work out.”

The final rites of Ratan Tata were performed with full State honours at a Mumbai crematorium this afternoon.

In an interview with Humans of Bombay, Tata revealed he was close to marriage but couldn’t due to the 1962 Indo-China war.

He said, “After college, I landed a job at an architecture firm in LA, where I worked for two years. It was a great time — the weather was beautiful, I had my own car and I loved my job. It was in LA that I fell in love and almost got married.

“But at the same time I had made the decision to move back at least temporarily since I had been away from my grandmother who wasn’t keeping too well for almost 7 years. So I came back to visit her and thought that the person I wanted to marry would come to India with me, but because of the 1962 Indo-China war her parent’s weren’t okay with her making the move anymore, and the relationship fell apart.”

The final rites of Ratan Tata were performed with full State honours at a Mumbai crematorium on Thursday.

Home Minister Amit Shah and many high-profile dignitaries from the world of politics and industry paid their last respects to Ratan Tata.