They received their Nano and much more

KOZHIKODE: The smallest car in the country gifted them the biggest bonus in their lives. In the most direct deal possible, 25 families from various parts of the district had their Nano car from the very man who fathered the concept. On Sunday evening, they received the keys of their Nano cars from Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata himself, during the business mogul’s first visit to the city.M Santhosh was beside himself with joy at his Chevannur home when he came to know that he was going to receive his keys from the Tata supremo. “Ratan Tata is not someone who you would expect to meet in your life, so I considered it a huge honour,” he said.Santhosh had his whole family with him as he went to meet Tata, but it was just him and his son who were able to share the dais with him. “As I walked up, I shook hands with him and wished him a good evening. He reciprocated politely and offered me his congratulations on the new car.” Santhosh was full of praise for the veteran industrialist.“He is such a humble man and I found it hard to believe that he was one of the richest people in the world. The simplicity he exhibits in speech and appearance is remarkable,” he said.Thamarassery native and businessman Sharafudheen, however, is distraught at missing out the chance to receive the key from the veteran industrialist. “I arrived 10 minutes late for the programme as I was caught in a traffic snarl. I am sad that I missed out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but at the same time consider myself fortunate to be able to participate in the rest of the programme and interact with Ratan Tata,” he said.Sharafudheen also said that the high profile visit had succeeded in convincing a couple of his friends who were as yet undecided to opt for the Nano. Tata also participated in an interactive session with the customers, where he received feedback on how to improve the Nano model. “People were telling him ideas that struck them while using the Nano and he was all ears. For example, one of them suggested a simple modification involving the mirrors on the car, and that was something you would not get from the design engineers,” said a source, who was present on the occasion.