nano

Yesterday Tata motors showed the "nano" to the public for the first time.

Why is it such a big deal?

Because, it is the cheapest car anywhere in the world at 1,00,000 INR.

As Mr. Ratan Tata put it, making a car this cheap wasn't easy. But then he had promised the people of India a car for the common man ... and a promise is a promise.

It was interesting to hear the spokesman for Volkswagen - the original people's car - make vehement excuses as to why they could not even conceive of such a car ... far less produce it.

A promise is a promise all right. And I hung my head in shame as one of my childhood idols made a complete ass of herself on one of the TV channels. Medha Patkar it seems also believes that a promise is a promise ... and in her conviction, she went ahead to protest against the nano irrespective of whatever it may be.

As Billy Joel sang, as we grow older, instead of seeing black and white, we often see shades of grey. And just like everything else, the nano has its shades of grey. However, all that our NGOs can see is black and white ... and more black than white apparently.

What irked me no end was that none of these people were even waiting to see what the nano had to offer before condemning it.

Most of their concerns were vague at best ... a famous slogan "roti kapda makaan" ... food, clothing and shelter ... was mentioned a zillion times ... but exactly how that had anything to do with a technologically advanced small car wasn't quite apparent to me.

One concern they had was the fact that if more people bought cars, there would be more pollution.

My answer to that is ... don't bikes pollute?

Is a euro 4 compliant small car worse than a bike?

Who is losing if a family of 4 that travels on a 2 wheeler, upgrades to a 4 wheeler that is safer?

Apparently the NGOs are.

After all, they are not the ones that need to fear for the lives of their kids. Just like Maneka Gandhi can scream about cruelty against stray dogs, sitting in her ivory tower, while children on the street get brutally attacked and killed by them.

Some claim that the roads shall be more congested.

Hello!!!

One of the contributing factors to traffic congestion here in India is the fact that the variety of traffic on our roads. We have everything from bullock carts to sleeping cows to rickshaws, autos, trucks, bikes, cycles, cars, hand carts, the odd elephant or 2 and god only knows what else on our roads. The 2 wheelers get from one place to another faster only because the riders are willing to flout every rule. You will see them weaving in and out among the stopped cars at the traffic signals, you will see them go over the pavement, getting pushed in the wrong direction along one way streets ... if these people upgrade to a car, I am sure that the traffic situation can only get better ... there will be less people flagrantly violating rules ...

One thing about the nano that is indeed black is the manner in which the land for the factory is being acquired for it in West Bengal. But frankly, it is very difficult to understand what the ground reality really is. There is way too much politics involved. While it is quite believable that the communist party in power there may be responsible for all the things that it has been accused off, it is equally likely that the opposition parties there are just inciting the trouble to help there cause ... after all, Mamta Bannerjee is another lady who could have really done a lot for the country but finally turned out to be just another politician ...

Moving away from what other people think of the nano and what I think of them, personally, I believe that the nano is a landmark.

Why?

I think it is a brave thing to attempt. I don't think that car this cheap can be produced simply by cutting corners and reducing safety measures and such. It requires engineering and a paradigm shift at some very basic levels. Of course it remains to be seen whether this has really happened or whether this is really just about cutting corners.

Ratan Tata said that the car would have a mileage of about 20 kilometers to the litre and would follow euro IV emission norms. Exemplary if true - and so far, there is no reason to believe otherwise.

Had the same car been produced in Japan and imported into India - say by Suzuki under the Maruti banner - I am quite certain that the NGOs and environmentalists would have been absolutely delighted and would have welcomed it with open arms, not once doubting its claims. These people who are protesting against the nano lack the belief that we as Indians can create something better than what the rest of the world has already created. That makes this another landmark. The fact that it has been made in India.

There is a lot about India that isn't right ... but there is a lot that is right too. We cannot throw the baby out with the bath water. And we need to realize that necessity really is the mother of invention. No other country really needs a car this cheap ... in initial cost or in running costs. India needs such a car. It is no great shakes really that such a car should be born here.

I am not an optimist in general. However, this is something that I feel optimistic about. I think it is time that we as a country learnt to appreciate ourselves. Let us not wait for some European car award for the nano before embracing it. Let us not wait for an American car magazine to write a rave review before acknowledging the effort that takes in breaking a mindset. Let us not wait for Japanese approval before approving the car. Let us for once not be like a basket full of crabs pulling each other down to make sure that no one ever makes it out of the basket.

Let us give the nano time to prove itself before we sit in judgement. To even contemplate something like this is a huge step. If at the end of the time we realize that the nano leaves something to be desired, instead of deriding it, let us see how we can make it better. Let us figure out what works best for us as a country rather than following blindly in the wake of other countries.

Dunno whether these environmentalists and the likes pray ... if they do, maybe they should ask God to grant them the patience to wait and see whether a thing is good before raising hell ... the strength to raise hell when it is really required ... and the good sense to know when to be patient and when to raise hell.