Shantanu Naidu, Ratan Tata’s close aide and manager of the Tata Trust, led his hearse on a bicycle as the industrialist’s body was taken to the NCPA in Mumbai for public viewing.

Billionaire tycoon and chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, Tata died late on Wednesday evening after a brief illness at the age of 86.

In a video shared on social media, the 30-year-old, dressed all in white, can be seen riding his bicycle in front of the ambulance among several police vehicles escorting his hearse to NCPA.

Watch the video here:

Naidu, who was also Tata’s aide, mourned the loss of the tycoon in a LinkedIn post shared early this morning.

The deeply personal note reflected the unlikely friendship between the two men. (Also read: Ratan Tata felt ‘humiliated’ by his classmates at Harvard University: ‘crossed out day after day’)

“I will try to fill the hole that this friendship has left for me for the rest of my life. Sadness is the price you have to pay for love. Goodbye, my dear lighthouse,” he wrote, sharing a photo of the two.

An unlikely friendship

Naidu’s unlikely friendship with Ratan Tata started because of their shared love for animals.

Naidu started a small company called ‘Motopaws’, which placed reflective collars on stray dogs to help motorists avoid being hit on the streets after dark.

In 2014, Naidu, a fifth-generation Tata employee, wrote a letter to the billionaire philanthropist seeking his help in his initiative. To his surprise, Tata wrote him back two months later and invited him to Mumbai to work for the Tata group.

Naidu moved to the US to pursue an MBA at Cornell University, like his mentor, but vowed to return to India and work for Tata Trust.

Naidu kept his promise and accepted an offer to become Tata’s assistant after completing his MBA and returning home.

In recent years, Tata has often been accompanied by Naidu in his rare public appearances. (Also Read: Ratan Tata Almost Married Four Times: What Industrialist Revealed In An Old Interview)