Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Fate, Destiny or Luck of Girish Wagh and Vasudev Deshpande

Indians tend to use the word "fate" very often. They seldom use "destiny" or simple "luck". Marathi author G A Kulkarni जी ए कुलकर्णी, deeply influenced by Greek culture preferred "destiny" नियती.

I am more comfortable with the word "luck", toss of coin.

In January 2008, media and the world at large hailed the launch of Tata's Nano. Ratan Tata very generously gave large credit of this success to Girish Wagh.

I am sure Wagh deserves all his success but does he know that he also is very lucky?

41 years ago in 1967, in the middle of what Surjit Bhalla calls India's "rotten age period (1960 to 1980) of declining growth and increasing poverty", a young man Vasudev Deshpande helped design "Meera Mini Car" for now defunct "Meera Automobile & Engineering Industries Pvt Ltd" based in small town of Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district. See few relevant pictures below.

India's automobile industry history has almost forgot Deshpande.

History is replete with such examples. When we hail new heroes and their achievements, it also is time to reflect on who all went before them.

Nicholas Taleb:

“Heroes won and lost battles in a manner that was totally independent of their own valor; their fate depended upon totally external forces, generally the explicit agency of scheming gods (not devoid of nepotism). Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.”

Vasudev Deshpande will remain a hero to me.



Please note Numberplate




Vasudev Deshpande explaining features to a minister
at

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 24, 2008 at 3:55 AM

    I don't get it - a number of people have designed/made cars. Should we be saluting all of them as "heroes"? What's so special about the Meera? Was it cheaper than the Nano, with a comparable efficiency level?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anil PJanuary 24, 2008 at 7:30 AM

    This is indeed very interesting. Isn't Reva 'small' enough too?

    Any further details on Vasudev Deshpande, pictures etc?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aniruddha G. KulkarniJanuary 24, 2008 at 8:39 AM

    ZRS,

    I agree.

    If designing automobile is not special for you, none of them is a hero to you.

    But for me they are. I don't like any automobile but I know how complex they are.

    In any case, the main point of the post wasn't heralding a new hero but pointing out the role "luck" plays.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aniruddha G. KulkarniJanuary 24, 2008 at 9:10 AM

    Anil P,

    as per your desire, I have appended Deshpande's picture.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Abhishek ShrotriJanuary 6, 2013 at 8:52 PM

    Hello Mr.Aniruddha G. Kulkarni!
    Read all the data about the car. I need to talk to you in detail about this. Can you please contact me at vsshrotri@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Aniruddha G. KulkarniJanuary 6, 2013 at 9:03 PM

    Thanks Mr. Shrotri for your feedback.

    I have nothing to add to what I have already said.

    best,


    ReplyDelete

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