Shantanu Naidu, Ratan Tata’s trusted manager who was the industrialist’s shadow in his final years, has announced the launch of his new passion project.
Bookies, a reading community where people gather at public spots to read in silence, was first introduced by Naidu in Mumbai and has since expanded to Pune and Bengaluru.
Earlier this week, he announced the launch of Jaipur Bookies, inviting readers to sign up for the upcoming event scheduled on Sunday, December 8.
“Jaipur, it’s time. We will see you on Sunday the 8th at Jaipur Bookies.Sign up for the launch below. So excited!” Naidu wrote on LinkedIn, sharing a form for book lovers in the Rajasthan capital to sign up for the event.
Naidu plans to take Bookies to other Indian cities, such as Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Surat. Naidu hosted a reading session in Bengaluru last month.
“Bookies has always been to bring back reading. It seems that reading is very central to the human experience. And it’s just gone back into the background,” Naidu said as he addressed a big gathering of young readers at a Bookies session.
“We used to watch three-minute Reels. We can’t even do 1:30-minutes (of video) anymore.”
Ratan Tata and Shantanu Naidu, a rare friendship
Ratan Tata named Shantanu Naidu in his will, highlighting the rare bond the visionary leader shared with the 30-something. The will indicates that Tata relinquished his stake in Naidu’s companionship venture, Goodfellows, and waived his education loans, according to a Times of India report.
After Tata’s death in October, Naidu penned an emotional note expressing his grief.
“The hole that this friendship has now left with me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill. Grief is the price to pay for love. Goodbye, my dear lighthouse,” he wrote, sharing a picture of the two.
(Also Read: Ratan Tata’s final journey: An emotional Shantanu Naidu leads his hearse on a bike)