Calculations started trickling in, and astonished many,1 lakh Indian Rupees equals only $2500. WOW!

All Auto journals around the world were awe struck by this car, for $2500 an Indian company is offering a real car. A French reporter exclaimed “It seems like a real car. The windows actually wind down”

The nation watched the event closely; our news hungry news channels had a hot property at hand, something in which everyone was interested (unlike Jurm/Sansanee – wo maut ki saudagar, Vish-kanya etc). The common man wanted to see if the promise made by TATA was actually fulfilled, can he afford the “four wheeler” so that he need not do daily acrobatics to load 2 adults and three kids on his poor scooter, is he really getting a car within his limited budget and if it is anything more than a glorified AutoRickshaw?

The other opposite segment was curious to see if it is actually possible to have a car at 1 lakh Rupees.. and then in the modern world you always have a third category..some people who drive in their own patrol guzzlers to these sites to lead a protest on the name of Green-peace and environment protection.

The event got an unprecedented coverage, news channels were gearing up for the event for the last 3-4 days, and the live streaming started on some channels as much as 1 hour before the actual magic started to roll.

Hundreds of photographers were elbowing each other to get the best shot of the People’s car, while hundreds of teenagers also flocked to the Pragati maidaan to witness the history in making.

I am not interested in covering the event, that has already been covered all over media and anyway I am writing what I saw or read in the media so no point in doing that..

What I want to portray is the tremendous interest the event generated,

How years of hard work from a team of 500 engineers and anticipation from millions condensed into one moment of sensation.

Curiously I looked at interesting discussions going on various forums of some US and UK news site..you can also view them, after all TATA-nano is all over J .. at least here here and here

One thing that was evident was that its something that catches everyone’s imagination, its not an incremental product, actually it’s a potential revolution, something that can create a storm at the world level. The US car companies rose to the hard reality called Japanese manufacturing in the 80s and 90s..many terms like JIT, SMED were floated and they were not only appreciated but also adopted by the world. Are we going to see something similar soon? Am I hearing TATA?

I am not pegging all my hopes on this tiny car, probably that will be a bit too much for a 624 cc car, but if you see the larger picture its a lot more than a car. Its a strong statement about the India’s capability to challenge convention, to innovate, to force the world to stop and take a note and in this case “Applaud!”.

Before the Software/Services saga, we were known as a nation of snake charmers, then it was changed but it was really not enough, all of our success was attributed to our cheap labour force. A colonial view will say that the Indian software industry had to succeed despite their questionable quality .. after all Indian engineers come at one fifth the price.

..who cares and who will believe that you are as capable as we are!

Probably for the first time we are getting out of that cheap labour mould, the nano is not only about cheap labour, its about a vision, a promise, about aspirations of millions, top design work and courage. Had the cheap labour been the driving force, the Suzuki’s and Hyndai’s of the world who operate and manufacture in India would not have termed the project as impossibility and insanity.[ Statements made by Osamu Suzuki — “Tata will not be able to make a one lakh car” — flashed on large screens during Ratan TATA’s presentation. Cudos!!]

It’s the first time when the world is looking at India in a new light , this small car has changed a lot at a bigger scale. Above all it has given Indian middle class a new Hero.

We as a nation lack such real Heroes, Probably the last time we saw them were in the form of Dheeru Bhai Ambani and JRD. But now we have another in the form of Ratanji TATA who believes in his, his team’s and his nation’s capability. A person who took over the major responsibility in 1993 after the demise of JRD, has made many bold statements. Probably the most significant of them were entering into car market (Indiaca’s success story), Tetley and then Corus(mother of all Indian acqs) acquisition.

Even five years back a 1 lakh Rupees Car was not a joke(or should i say that it sounded like one?), Car prices were still very much the same as they are now…Steel and Oil prices have soared considerably from then but still TATAs have managed to fulfill what they promised. “A promise is a promise,” Ratan Tata said during the presentation.

The kind of coverage that TATA got could make some so called richest persons of the world/India feel a bit uneasy. But it shows a big reality ..”You think about the common man and the world will think about you if you are honest about it”. The common man is once again in focus..at least for some days..Bajaj is planning something similar in collaboration with Renault. Probably this common man will come into focus in other industries as well.

The true success of TATA nano will be decided in another one year or so, but the kind of inquiries that TATA showrooms are catering to in the smallest and farthest towns/small cities in India, the kind of Thumbs-up it got from international/national auto media and Indian Auto industry is enough to conclude that if the whole journey matches the debut than this car will redefine the Auto industry of this country and who knows, it may redefine the whole country as well. As it inspires millions of youngsters like me to be proud of what we are..INDIANS!!

I Salute you Mr. TATA, Jai Hind!!

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