The unveiling of the TATA NANO at the Auto show in New Delhi recently showed the company’s commitment to make POSSIBLE what many sceptics thought MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.

A lot of people have praised the company and the leadership. In UK Tata’s small car has become the talk of London. It is getting big publicity, being called “……a miracle on wheels, a car a generation ahead of its’ predecessors and a revolution in the small car market.”  Meanwhile other car manufacturers such as Honda are not hopeful that the car will be a success owing to the lack of infrastructure and high petrol prices would keep the average Indian on two wheeler for a long time to come.

I can still remember the thrill of having bought my first car. It was an old second hand Premier Padmini and I use to take care of it so well. Since then, over time I have managed to change and upgrade to newer and bigger cars. But the thrill of buying a car for the very first time is unmatched. There are several others in India to whom owning a car is still a dream and TATA’s have just targeted that lot and worked hard to give them a reason to hold on to their IMPOSSIBLE DREAM. No wonder then that the TATA NANO is being hailed as the Model T of the 21^st century.

I am not sure exactly how many will buy the Nano. But certainly with a price tag of Rs 1,30,000 (inclusive of tax) a lot of people who don’t own a car today  would buy a Nano. The same is true of the high end two wheeler owners who would rather pay an extra 60 or 70,000 rupees and have themselves upgraded to a four-wheeler rather than settle for a two wheeler.

With the five cheapest cars in the world coming either from China or India (both of whose economies are showing at least 8% growth rate), the ramifications are that a large number of cars would be sold out in the days ahead. Environmentalists, however, fear that already clogged roads and polluted cities will soon be overwhelmed by millions of learner drivers. There is no denying that in an age when the world is conscious and aware of the effects Green House Gases have on Global Warming – a few million cars more on the roads mean a more trouble on our hands. But if India as a nation couldn’t care less hitherto to stop and check the polluting vehicles on the road, I feel this time  - when a million hearts of a young nation have rejuvenated hopes , aspirations and dreams - is definitely not the time to be bothered about it.

Nano means different things to different people. To the scientific community Nano- is a prefix (symbol n) in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10⁻⁹. To a Bengali, I am told, it means Invisible and to a Gujarati it means small or younger one.

I am sure if one were to ask an average Indian today – across language and geographic state borders -  what comes to his mind when he hears the word NANO, chances are he would say it’s the name of his new dream. How much more satisfying can that get Mr Ratan Tata, I wonder, to be the man behind tens of millions of dreams? Quite an enviable position I must admit and what a lovely way to bring about National Integration in your own way. To you Mr Ratan Tata and the fantastic team you lead the least I can say is HATS OFF sir !!!