After Tata Nano, another small car for less than lac

12th December 2008

I was sitting with Mira and Manu in our garden when I heard a loud bang. I rushed outside and saw this Maruti Zen being hit by a Tata 407. It was a relief that no one was sitting in the car. After that my attention went to the driver of the mini truck. In India a very common variety of accident is called “Hit and Run”. Hit and run means that it was your mistake and after you hit someone, instead of stopping you run the hell out of there. Why? Indians believe in instant justice. The Maggie 2 minute noodle may not cook in two minutes but we are more than capable of providing justice in less than that. So in a scenario like that, The whole crowd, instead of beating the shit out of the driver, was as stunned to see the driver of Tata 407 just standing there with a content smile as Monty was surprised to see that Stuart Little has not made any attempt to run away. Just like Monty, I asked the driver

“Are you not going to run away?”
“Why should I?” He replied with some degree of surprise.
“Well, that is what you usually do after you hit someone so badly”
“Maybe. Maybe you run if it is an accident, this was no accident.”
“So you are saying you intentionally ran into this car.”
For the first time the driver turned to me “Have you heard about Ratan Tata”
“Who has not?”
“Then you must have also heard about his small car - The Tata Nano”
“Again, who has not?”
“I was inspired by Mr. Ratan Tata and I was determined to do better than him”
“By hitting a Maruti?”
“No, by making a small car. He made a small car and I have made a car smaller, his car is worth a lac and the car I have made is worth less than a lac. Actually it is a lot less than a lac. But you know what makes this even sweeter?”
“No.”
“I have managed to do it without spending millions like Ratan Tata.”