The People’s Car

Inspiration:During the launch of Tata Nano, Ratan Tata revealed the story on what inspired him to think about a small car. The saying goes like this - “I observed families riding on two-wheelers. The father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. Today, we indeed have a People’s Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms.”
Nomenclature:The name ‘Nano’ was coined for this small car as it denotes high technology and small size, as mentioned in their website. There are unconfirmed stories as well on how the car was called the Nano, as nano means small in Gujarati, the mother tongue of the Tata family.
Engineers:The Nano has been bought to current design and shape by a strong team of about 500 engineers, headed by Girish Wagh, at the Engineering Research Centre (ERC) of the Tata Motors plant in Pune.
Design:Nano uses less sheet metal, has a smaller and lighter engine than other cars, smaller tubeless tyres and a no frills interior. No surprise for guessing, the company has applied for 34 patents to cover its innovations.
Price:Tata Nano - the world’s cheapest car as on date, costs almost half of the cheapest car currently available anywhere in the world. The Maruti 800 costs approximately Rs 2 lakhs (Ex showroom price). It may be noted that a Bajaj autorickshaw costs approximately Rs 90,000 INR. While comparing the Nano to the Maruti 800 at the launch ceremony of Tata Nano, I recall Ratan Tata’s words - “It is 8% smaller bumper to bumper, has 21% larger seating capacity than the Maruti 800″.
Guinness Record:The Tata Nano has already made it to the Guinness Book of World Records 2009. The 54th edition of the record book, which was launched at London’s Trafalgar Square, has listed the Nano as the world’s cheapest car.
Concept to Reality:This story again dates back to the launch ceremony of Nano in New Delhi. There Ratan Tata quoted, “This has been referred to as one man’s dream and indeed it was. But it took a tremendous amount of team work to convert this or translate this into reality. And I think it would be but fair and fitting to recognise and acknowledge the achievement of a young group engineers who undertook the challenge for four years and great sacrifice to themselves and produced this car.”
" Salute for the Tata-Nano"!

The Story I couldn digest

I was walking around in a Big Bazaar store making shopping, when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more Than 5 or 6 years old. The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll. Then the little boy turned to me and asked: ''aunty, are you sure I don't have enough money?'' I counted his cash and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy the doll, my dear.'' The little boy was Still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 'It's the Doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much. I wanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.' His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.'' My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.' Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing.

He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister...' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, Just in case you do have enough money for the doll?'' 'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough..' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!' Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.' I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.

Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma.

Was this the family of the little boy? Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.