THE MIGHTY DWARF

The word "NANO" comes from the Greek word "Nanos" which means - a dwarf. The Tata Nano is a dwarf, both, by way of its size as well as its price. It has created history by being the least priced, metal bodied, petrol fuelled car, in the history of mankind.

It is a boon to the common man ( "Common Man", depicted in a precise manner in R.K Laxman's cartoons - The man who is present everywhere, yet doesn't participate in anything thats happening and is just a mere onlooker ), who's got his chance to add some extra wheels to his life. Till now, he had been using public transport or maybe just a motorcycle, but now that he can afford this car, he can travel with his entire family in his own private vehicle.( Though, in India, we often do witness a whole family of 4 or even 5 on a motorcycle ).
This would boost the profits of driving schools, which would witness a throng of these new car owners, for driving lessons.

Albeit it has such positive effects, Nano is definitely a bane. The already highly congested roads of India would worsen. Where, a motorcycle could manoeuvre through the little space left between the buses and the cars, would be filled up by these Nanos. The pavements will have to be either shortened or tarred, allowing no room for a man to walk. Well I doubt whether there would be any person left walking, once the Nano hits the roads. A man who once used to walk a 100 metres to buy vegetables from the market, would probably drive in his first car, which would've become his status symbol, that of a common man.

The condition of the roads would deteriorate. The unscrupulous techniques using which our roads are laid, do not allow them to survive even one set of showers. The more number of vehicles on the roads, the quicker the damage. Further, the parking space would be reduced. In a city like Mumbai, where a vehicle has to be parked kilometers away from where a person desires, the people would be taking the cars along with them to park in their office cabins perhaps. Though, the parking mafia should be looking forward to Nano's antics.

The biggest problem would arise when the upper class parents would start gifting their children Tata Nanos before the kids even enter their teens. These spoilt kids would exploit this freedom by driving without undergoing proper traffic lessons and a valid licence, which would result in an increase in accidents. At an age when the children should be playing with hot-wheels and toy-trucks, they would instead be behind the steering of this little meany enthralled by just the mere fact that they have been promoted from being a bicycle rider, to a car driver. Other than gifting the Nano to their children or for weddings and birthdays, the launch of this car wont affect the people in the upper class cadre. They would still be topping up their shopping carts with the Hondas, Toyotas and Benzes.

Even though the nano is claimed to be an environment friendly vehicle whose emission levels would be even lesser than those of motorcycles, a large number of these vehicles would definitely contribute in some way to the pollution levels in the country. This line of thought cannot be ruled out.

The couple of positives because of this car's launch cannot oppose the large number of negatives that come as added features along with it. In short, when the NANO hits the road, we'll have to bid TATA to whatever little traffic serenity is left in this country.