Repair

In this mortal word the only thing immortal in Indian context is “Repairs”. You might have missed a glimpse of a few thousand Indian deities but “repair” will spy you out before you would actually miss them on a perfect weekend. In fact today, grahastha ashram is incomplete without a weekly a sortie to a nearby repair shop. While the technology of the household appliances or gadgets have changed manifold what remains to change is the degree of freedom from the burgeoning pressure of the repair on the household. It is perennial; it does not follow any pattern and occurs most likely in the tough months when you are planning to save few thousand bucks in your kitty.

In India, we are groomed to repair things and postpone fresh buys. The childhood mochi’ , who can fix any footwear is the kind of cheap band-aid we look for every household repair. The old iron in the house, the toaster, the heater, the electric kettle, pressure cooker, washing machine, refrigerator, TV, AC are all an equal contestant in the race to seek undivided attention from the household lady or the gentle men appointed or sucked in out of no choice for such ordeals.

The mutiny of these household repairs is well coordinated generally, the day you decide to do away with only a plumber the electrician comes as a combo sachet. And these are real expensive resources for people living in a metro and that too in a high rise. The higher the address the dearer the repair is. You may plan to do away with these ultra skilled resources within few minutes but their short visit is bound to eat your entire bandwidth for the day. Their visit is accustomed with follow up calls for their arrival and even if you start tracking them by a geo satellite their 10 -15 minutes timeline is bound to soar your blood pressure. And before your money could actually buy your peace of mind they are booked for another call…thanks to the mobile phones rather thanks to China for cultivating such a mobile harvest.

The call centre for little more expensive repairs give solace on phone but the last mile support extended at your doorstep relives the trauma and you suddenly realize the harmony in diversity. Warranty/out of warranty/available/not available on weekends/original receipt/stamp on warranty card etc steal all the glamour and prepare you for the repair. After all is done, forget Anna Hazare for a moment, tip them a bit and they assure you of a personalized service on a phone call outside company records with genuine spares. The quality of spare parts should not raise a doubt since we are all time strapped and we pay for our convenience. Imagine the odds of leaving your dear mobile phone for week in organized service centre vs “yahan sabhi mobile repair hote hain “ and with all the assurance of a job neatly done….enticing!!

India, I think badly need crush yards to reduce the negative chi of the households. Old cars are sometimes more expensive to park than their net worth but keep on hogging the parking lot and also the repair shops. Gone are the days of a single TV set in the house I am sure the extra one in the house with extra small screen 21” can be donated to someone who will welcome it like an LED TV. So apart from old clothes we should periodically donate old appliances to stay afloat of otherwise frequent repairs. Anyways, all this requires a bigger kind of repair I don’t know who will fix it as the world economy is itself seeking a big time repair.

Hence, in my small household affair I don’t feel alienated now, running around and fixing small tap leakages as everything else on a macro level is awaiting a DNA repair. The inflation, the interest rates , the fuel prices , sensex, salaries ..etc all paint some kind of non repairable canvas currently. Hence, time to re-pair your energies, feel proud and start gifting tool kit to your dearest colleague or friend to let them participate in THE REPAIR!

Someone also gift me few spa vouchers….for a full body repair!