NANO...the tiniest of tiny...always so small...always so insignificant.......until one man differed. Yes, a man who was not small at all...he was BIG man..in stature...physical, social, professional...a man who had worn the crown so easy...who had done more than justice to a legacy...a man who dreamt BIG...and his BIG dreams were all about smallness.........."HOW SMALL" - did you ask? Well as small as it can be, yes his big dreams were NANO ... that small.
SO, a big man with big dreams on smallness...how does it interest anyone...well it doesnt..actually it interests almost everyone.
THE gentleman who really started this is of course MR.RATAN TATA. That captain of industry, who inherited an empire and turned it into a worldwide hierarchy. Many acquisitions, mergers and takeovers later, the symbol of goodwill in India was transformed into a symbol of power for the world. Yet there was something missing...something that set the FORDs, the IBMs, the MOTOROLAs apart. That something was the revolution on a worldwide stage. Yes, the TATAs did almost everything, that they set their hands on, better than most - but was there anything that they had done FIRST, had they ever been able to usher in a revolution. The doubts were cast firm but the Captain of the ship had ideas...rather he had a vision. When he announced the ONE LAKH CAR, it was gimmick to many. People alien to his conviction, people like us, sniggered, and fresh doubts were cast...would it be three wheeled...of course no doors...just enough for two and a half passengers maybe... the price would be adjusted for inflation from the announcement and hence it would be costlier than the 800.......
TO their credit, the company never spoke...not even to contradict. They just waited for their day...and what a day it was. 10.01.08 would be forever etched in the annals of automobile history. The NANO was shown to its future owners, the common man, for the first time....the message that was not written nor told..yet that percolated everywhere was ..."HERE IS YOUR DREAM..GRAB IT" - it was a loud and clear message.
In the process, Mr.Tata pssibly overtook JRD in the list of TATA visionaries and stands second only to the founder. Outside the chaebol, as far as visions go, I would put him just ahead of Dhirubhai, the man who dreamt of making STD calls cheaper than postcards. True Dhirubhai revolutionised Telecom with this never before dream, but the tools used, the technology was imported. It was only modified by his heirs to suit the great man's dream. Tata has gone a step further by creating everything. The world dis-believed what he attained. Today the world watches wide-eyed. The world had heard of American cars, Japanese cars and recently the Koreans maybe- but now we hear of an Indian car everywhere.
The cynics will not hang up - and its true that the commecial viability, the feasibility of the Nano has not yet been tested through the rigours of mass production - but today the optimists outnumber the pessimists - and there lies the credit of the achievement.
Nano, the small car for the small wallet that is meant for a far bigger part of humanity. Its really the thought that is making the difference.
Take a bow Mr.Tata as the world applauds ....for you are not going to SELL a CAR ... you are going to REALIZE millions of ASPIRATIONS... yes with this one stroke, you have risen from a marvelous businessman to a DREAM MERCHANT.
No comments:
Post a Comment