Diamonds for Economically Challenged, Anyone?

Ratan N Tata and his team have finally launched the Tata Nano Car. The ultimate in the world in "poor person's car". I am told that a lot of work and moolah have gone into the making of this poor person's vehicle - original reserach and development, design, engine etc etc. You name it and the car has it. The only thing retained from the heretofore known design of the cars is that the steering is still on one side [right side in this case]. I have always wondered why car steerings are on one side and not in the middle. Cars evolved from horse carriages where the coachman sat in the middle hence it would have been natural for cars to have steering wheels in the middle. That way u could also have two passenger seats in front. Perhaps someone making cars for persons who cannot even afford Nanos will make a car with the steering wheel in the middle.... someday.
But, as usual I digress. The whole point is, here is a great man from a developing country who thought of the have nots and put his resources behind making a car that is affordable by the poor. Just imagine if every industrialist and businessmen thought like him. The world would be a wonderful place to live in. So here are my suggestions to some of the biggies to make use of the recession and make pro poor products:
1. Shell, Chevron and others should start making a poor person's version of gasoline [to be used with Nano]
2. De Beers should start making poor person's diamond [we also have women to make happy, you know]
3. Boeing and Airbus should seriously start making planes for poor persons [some of us have got bored with cars anyways]
4. Central Banks should start printing poor person's money
World would be such a wonderful place to live in - there will be no class tension, no social tension, no neighbour's envy owner's pride syndrome.
Reminds me of a story I heard as a boy:
Rich Man to his new illiterate Driver: You know my only son is a IIT and IIM grad and works in Dubai
Driver: What's the big deal? My son also works in Dubai.
Thanks to Mr Tata the car industry has got Dubaied.. May his tribe increase.

Ratan Tata and Tata Salt

To ordinary middle class people like me, Tatas have been the most honest and transparent industry groupo in India even before Ratan Tata took over the group some 15 years back. Lots have been written by famous people like Vir Sanghvi and Tarun Das and Swaminathan Aiyer about the famous turnaround that RNT managed in the Tata Group.... How he cut down and finally threw out the shatraps, how he broght about speed and efficiency, hired and empowered younger people, how he nurtures talent etc. etc.... But I have a different take on RNT......

Tata group have been famous for low cost Indian product and some of us recall the fact that they always targetted the lower half of the pyramid.... Remember Tata Hair Oil? Tata Shampoo, very popular products of Tata Chemicals? Incidentally both of them came is the same bottle and in the toilet those days, it was difficult to differentiate which was the oil and which was the shampoo..... as a young boy I made the mistake several times. Again take the case of Tata Tea, it makes tea which before the takeover of Tetley was consumed either by people who did not know what tea was or used in Chai shops... the cheapest in the market... Same with their trucks.. which are responsible for spoiling the respiratory system of half the country..... same with TCS... the largest unforcussed body shopping company country. RNT continued which these products till very recently..... and he added one very significant priduct to it... Tata Indica, the worst but most economical pasenger car in the Indian market....
It is only recently tha the Tata Group has realised that people do not necessarily want to but outdated technology just because they are slightly cheaper and made in India... People are increasingly going for expensive teas, Tata Shampoos and Oils have long disappeared from the market, Nobody is keen on buying lowest cost steel from India, Indica has been a hit only among taxi companies and Tata buses were being abandoned for the more expensive Volvos even by the captive state transports...
So the need of the hour was to make state of the art products and only then low cost would make sense.... the result so far as Telco is concerned are first the low floor hi tech buses running as Starbuses in Mumbai or their more expensive Marco Polo version in Delhi and the Tata Nano, what could not be made in India was bought... Corus, Natsteel, Tetley, Jag etc etc.... My guess is there would be something similar for TCS and with a very brilliant FMCG man sitting on the helm of Tata Sons, we may soon see some movement in that space as well.
My take on Tatas is simple..... they have given us the best product that any good honest and transparent company give to it country.... You can't even guess what it is.... Yes ladies and gentlemen, the best tata Product which has and will stand the test of time is Tata Salt......