Heartbroken Homai Vyarawala says no to Nano

A promise is a promise, which is why no one can blame 95-year-old Homai Vyarawala for feeling so let down. Her last hope of being among the first, at least in Vadodara, to own a Nano, finally died when she learnt that none of the first 16 Nanos distributed in the city on Thursday was meant for her.

Despite a much-publicised promise by Tata representatives that she would be allotted a Nano on a priority basis, she is yet to get the car. It is clear that Tata Motors dealers in the city have no memory of the promised made to her by the company.

“I am not dying for the Nano,” said Vyarawala who, incidentally, is India’s first woman photo-journalist. “I have finally cancelled my booking for the car and asked for a refund of the booking amount.” Vyarawala, who lives alone at her residence in Vadodara, told DNA that when the Tata Motors representative had first approached her, she had told them clearly that she could not wait for her turn to be allotted the car.

“Then they told me that I would be allotted a Nano out of turn,” she said. “I accepted their offer and paid Rs95,000 through a bank as advance for the car. I was asked to pay the remaining Rs45,000 at the time of delivery.”

She said Nano dealers had promised her delivery of the car latest by July 2009. “When the first lot of Nanos arrived in Ahmedabad in the last week of July, I asked my friends to make enquiries at the local dealer’s,” Vyarawala said.

“The dealer said they had not received any intimation about her Nano and that she should enquire after a month.” As she had received no communication from Tata officials regarding the date of delivery of her Nano, she was thinking of cancelling her booking. “But I decided to wait till the Nanos meant for delivery in Vadodara had arrived,” Vyarawala said. “I was hoping they would send my car along with the cars meant for Vadodara.”

On Thursday, she learnt that 16 Nanos had been distributed in Vadodara. “But my name was not in the list of customers for whom the cars were sent. I am feeling deeply humiliated,” she said. “The company officials have not kept their promise. I have written a letter to the officials of the company in Mumbai, stating that I was cancelling my booking and wanted a refund of the booking amount.”

Vyarawala is deeply hurt at the ease with which Tata dealers and officials have forgotten their promise. “If they give me the car now, I will not accept it,” she said. “For me, a car is a necessity as I have to go out to purchase grocery and the other things I need. I have now decided to purchase a pre-owned Maruti car resold by the company itself with a one-year warrantee.”