You bought a Tata?

This morning I had decided what I was going to write about, and began typing it in. I was almost done writing the crap I normally do. At that point, my system wouldn't accept any of my words and went into a coma. I guess the system was smart enough to know that I was indeed, writing crap and stopped listening to me. The system actually froze and I didn't save my work.

It was my fault to be honest. Knowing that I was using Windows, I should have saved it every millisecond. Windows equals to unreliable. Instead of writing the same thing again, I decided to write about Tata. Which, also equals to unreliable.

Tata is one of the biggest names in India and runs almost almost every sort of business. Tata motors was launched way back in 1945, when they collaborated with Mercedes Benz and manufactured commercial trucks. In the the 90's they decided to enter the passenger car segment. They sold the first Indian SUV (Safari), first fully indigenous passenger car (Indica). And now, the worlds cheapest car (Nano). Hopefully Apple doesn't sue them for the name, if it releases in the US.

Tata's vehicles have been problematic all the time. Show me one Tata automobile which had everything working right, and I'll give you everything I own. Which at this point is only my iPhone. Its jail broken. And broken. My cousin bought a Sierra. The first problem was that, it was painted in the wrong color. Second was that the fuel tank leaked. A year later it just fell apart. All their cars tried resembling the Mercs. A very sad resemblance.

I bought a Indica to commute to college. I was commuting to Tata's service center instead. Six days a week. Not seven, since it was closed on Sunday. The car's engine died on the third day with less than 100 miles on the odometer. Old habits die hard was true with Tata. It drove and sounded like a truck, which they had been making for five decades. Regardless their vehicles sold. They wanted to make Airplanes next. But the Government told Ratan Tata to go fix the one's that are on the roadside before he decides to make the trucks fly.

Even though the quality of the products were beyond pathetic, I liked the determination of Ratan Tata. In the early nineties he made a statement saying his company would release a car which was size of Maruti 800 on the outside and the size of a Ambassador on the inside. Ambassador was big only in India. It would easily fit into the back pocket of an American. Regardless he did come out with one. Then later, they bought Land Rover and Jaguar. They were in good company as both had similar reliability problems. There is a saying. You always buy a pair of Jag's. One to sit on your driveway, the other to sit at the service center.

A few years back he said they were going to make a car which would cost a Lakh. This was something that made rest the manufacturers in the world to stop and take notice at this Indian man. It was every mans dream to own a car someday and now it was possible. People were saying, they would add a tire to an Auto rickshaw and change the logo to a Tata. And, it would fall off two days later. They stunned the world by showing the Nano last year. To begin with, it looked like a car. And it looked pretty too. A major achievement by an Indian company.

Now all the other manufacturers are collaborating to come out with a similarly priced car. They have enough bookings to make them churn out cars for three years at least. Some people are buying them just as a spare. Like plates and spoons. Two weeks back they made the first delivery. It was a highly publicized event. The only thing we don't know is that, if they could successfully start the car.