>By the way, in Ratan Tata's mother tongue Gujarati, 'nano' means small.
And I thought the word nano originated from Greek "Nanos" meaning small/dwarf, and hence words like nanotechnology! The other thing - the Tatas.. arent't they Zorastrians, whose mother tongue is Parsee? :):) --Ram On 1/11/08, Pradip Kumar Datta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thank you, Mr Tata, for thinking of the common man! > Sheela Bhatt > > January 11, 2008 visit: www.marketmantra.in > > http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/11sheela.htm > Mr Ratan Tata, thank you very much! > You have created history, not because you have created the cheapest car in > the world but because you have touched our emotions, our hearts. Thanks a > million. > For more than 900 million Indians, who live ordinary lives, this is a rare > moment when they feel like they are being taken care of by the rich and the > mighty class. > Your class, I mean the others who are amongst the richest Indians, must be > feeling a little squeamish today as they saw the overwhelming coverage of > you unveiling your pretty car in the Indian press and on television. > Frankly, the best part of your endeavour is that you have taken terrific > care to make sure that your car does not resemble a superior version of a > Bajaj autorickshaw. That would have made us feel humiliated. Instead, you > have done it with style, and class. Thanks again. > The stock exchange might not reacted favourably to your history-making > venture, but that is also the proof that Tata Nano is not just about money. > It's about profits along with creating a great product. > Very soon the Bajajs and the Munjals, the Japanese and the Koreans will > also realize this. We are told that you may be making a humble profit of > only Rs 4,000 per Tata Nano, but life in globalization is about ideas plus > profit. > In one single stroke you have created a new class within the Indian > society. Overnight, my canteen manager Sitaram-ji, my driver's elderly > father who is a retired army man, my grocery supplier Mr Arora, and all such > nice people with decent but limited income can start dreaming. > That's wow! Really! > Till the 1990s, Indians were striving for roti, kapda, makan, water and > roads. Then, the desires expanded. Consumerism started to find a foothold in > the country, but glitzy acquisitions were still within the reach of only the > fairly well heeled. > > But, now, I cannot but be amused as I visualize a supervisor stepping out > of his Alto-deluxe and his salesman disembarking from his Tata Nano for an > informal meeting at a Barista outlet. > As expected, Bajaj Auto Ltd [Get Quote] managing director Rajiv Bajaj > talked about profits the other day. He said: "We have seen the car (Tata > Nano) and it looks good, but I haven't heard them (the Tatas) say that it > will be profitable." > No one can be so off the mark. To be an industrialist in the new economy > is not to be a new zamindar. It is about inclusive growth without losing out > on innovation, technology and growth. > Mr Tata, you have given shape to our secret desires. In all seriousness, > India's hyper-energetic middle class and the impatient poor who want to > break into the upper economic layer salutes you today. You have accomplished > what CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat -- with his bagful of idealism > -- could not do, or what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- with his > five-page-long qualifications as an ace economist -- could not do, and what > all Karl Marx-quoting hypocrites could not dream of doing. > Tata Nano is the great symbol of Indian-ishtyle socialism. This is > socialism suited for the 21st century. As a nano favour, Karat should write > a letter to the United Progressive Alliance government recommending you for > the Bharat Ratna because by thinking so big on behalf of those smiling and > struggling Indians travelling awkwardly on unreliable two- or > three-wheelers, you have given us something to boast about. > For the first time, our favourite pro-people activist and Centre for > Science and Environment director Sunita Narain looked out of sync on TV on > Thursday when she talked about congestion, pollution and the other inherent > problems 'caused by' the auto industry. > Right now, there are about five million cars and 70 million two-three > wheelers on Indian roads. In the coming five years there might not be more > than 500,000 Tata Nanos in the Indian market, but there will certainly be > 500,000 ordinary Indian families enjoying a safer ride in their own > four-wheeler. > The entire Nano event is important from only one point of view. We are > taught that social democracy is all about the majority of people having an > equitable share of the resources of the nation. Water, land, metals, food > and roads -- every basic requirement for living should be distributed in > such a manner that more and more people reap the benefits. Since the last 60 > years the rich who constitute a single digit percent of the population had > all the roads to themselves except for the footpath. > "Yeh road tere baap ka hai?" is the common aggressive sentence ordinary > pedestrians heard from insensitive car drivers. Yes, the road should be more > the property of the common people of India, but those who can afford > Marutis, Hondas and Skodas wrongly think that they should be given the right > of way by pedestrians on wretched Indian roads. Yes, road common people ke > baap ka hai, this is what Tata Nano is shouting from the rooftops. For that > we are so happy, Mr Tata. > Creating roads was a capital-intensive development and took away a large > share of the planned budget and ended up helping the rich and upper class > much, much more. Huge chunks of land were taken away to build highways and > expressways, but 80 per cent of people living around them have no use for > them because they simply cannot afford the cars or even autorickshaws to > drive on them. > People without cars had to struggle to have their share of the roads. The > most shocking fact is that when the New Delhi government built a magnificent > cluster of flyovers near the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, it > simply forgot that there will be many people on foot too! Only after UPA > chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurated it were some amendments made. > It's so difficult to walk or even cycle in cities. Tata Nano is important > from the point of view of having a piece of the pie of the national asset > called 'road.' So far, only the rich could boast of driving on roads and > highways. > But now the 'other class' will enter. Sunita Narain's argument about > pollution and congestion is first class but it comes at a wrong time and at > the wrong place because it is a general argument applicable to all and > mainly to Central government which is bereft of ideas on development. > The real reason behind the euphoria caused by the Tata Nano is the > negligence of mass-transit systems in India since decades. Every ordinary > Indian has his or her tale to share about how they have suffered in > jam-packed and rickety state transport buses, how they are crushed in Mumbai > local trains, and how elderly people dread travelling by any means of public > transport. > It is a national shame to see the way women, children and the elderly > travel in Mumbai's local trains, but no government or industrialist thinks > about putting their act together to help more than 4 to 5 million people > even when Mumbai is reaching a breaking point. > For the first time, the Kolkata and Delhi metro rails gave 'respect' to > the common man's need for better transport. > We would like to believe that Tata Nano is a symbolic gesture to bring the > common Indian in national focus. If India had better public transport, we > would not have given a rousing welcome to Tata Nano. > By the way, in Ratan Tata's mother tongue Gujarati, 'nano' means small. > > visit: www.marketmantra.in > > > --------------------------------- > Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it > now. > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > [email protected] > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
