Carefully wrapped in a tarpaulin cover, the lunar silver Nano parked at the residence of Ashok Raghunath Vichare, a retired customs officer and the first man in India to take home the People?s Car, represents a vehicle that its maker, the Tata Group, hopes will transform travel for millions of middle-class Indians. For the Antop Hill, Mumbai, resident, it is a dream come true, and the whole process?from the time he booked the car to when he was handed the keys by Ratan N Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, in person?fascinating, to say the least.

?Despite the media following me around from the Tata dealer to my house, I managed to zip through the cramped roads quite smoothly,? chuckles Vichare, who has bought the car for his daughter who still needs to join the motor training school. Mind you, Vichare is exactly the kind of buyer Ratan Tata had in mind when he embarked on his dream project: He is a two-wheeler owner seeking to upgrade to a four-wheeler.

Vichare, who has served at the Mumbai airport as well as Nhava Sheva port, is upbeat about the potential of the Nano. He feels the Nano will soon become the biggest export product from the Tata stable. ?It is only the Tatas who could have conceived of a product like this and not lose hope despite the various controversies,? he says.

That statement would be really gratifying for the Nano team at Tata Motors that had been grappling with challenges since day one?from the questions raised by critics across the globe about the feasibility of such a car to the glitches over land acquisition for its plant in West Bengal. And the numbers attest to the trust Indians repose in the Tata brand?2.06 lakh potential buyers had come out to put their money on what was dubbed as the ?Rs 1 lakh car? knowing they may not be lucky enough to make it to the first list of deliveries.

The youngest among the three early owners from Mumbai, Ashish Balakrishnan, an employee of HDFC Bank and also the one to lose his key within hours of taking the delivery of the car, feels that the car is just perfect to make it the most economical car in the world. ?I want to own this car for years to come,? says Balakrishnan, who is trying to get his learner licence. While owning a four-wheeler had become almost ?a necessity? for him, he says the somewhat tepid response to the booking process of the Nano just raised his hopes of getting the car this year.

?I am stressed by the EMI of my new house in Thane, where I will be moving in in a month?s time,? he says. ?Around 50% of my salary goes into it and the Nano is the only car I could have bought through outright cash purchase.? He adds that even if his name did not make it to the first list, the upfront amount, as per the booking process, would have been kept

as a fixed deposit with Tata Capital at

an interest of 8.5% for two years and 8.75% if the car is delivered after two years from the date of allotment, which works out to be a pretty good deal

in any case.

Currently, Balakrishnan stays on rent in the Lower Parel area in Mumbai with three roommates and, due to unavailability of parking space in that area, has parked his car in a locality quite some distance away, in Chembur.

The third and not much in limelight is the Nano, again in lunar silver, owned by Kores India Ltd, a company dealing in office products, office and banking automation, engineering security systems, student stationery, textiles, real estate and BPO, among others. The Nano is currently parked at the residence of chairman and director SK Thirani?s residence for family use. Other

brands of cars used by the company include the likes of Mercedes Benz, Ford and Maruti Suzuki.

So there you have it. The journey has well and truly begun for the cheapest car in the world. And expectations are mounting. While the car has got the thumbs up from its recent owners, they feel that the company needs to really work on the noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH as they say) of the car, which are a basic requirement of any automobile, irrespective of cost. ?It would be great if the company can reduce the noise of the engine,? Vichare says with a visible line of concern on his forehead.

Of course, innovation is a continuous process and every day is just a step toward betterment. The buyers of the Nano hope its maker would take heed of consumer feedback and get over the teething troubles as fast as possible.