ONE of the several events that are harbinger of depression happen when some electrical item or appliance that you own, malfunctions or stops functioning altogether. When that happens, I know it is time to say a little prayer as getting that thing repaired is a challenge in many ways. Although repair shops abound in the country, this fact provides no comfort. The problem is manifolds namely: fleecing, theft of parts and of course, incompetence. Much of my life has been consumed by dealing with and cursing these repairmen.
Let’s start with the car deck repairers. The main repair market is situated at Abdullah Haroon Road where countless repair shops, big and small are involved in this work. These people, on the lodgement of the request at their shop, swiftly send a young chap to check the problem and to trouble shoot (as you would like to believe). The kid makes some elementary checks which entail ejecting and forcing the cassette in at least 10 to 15 times in a manner which confirms that the eject function is forced to a premature death. Then, with eyes that have started to glitter, he will tell that the patient has to be unscrewed and carried to the shop where further attempts will be made for diagnosing the problem by the senior technicians. Once he receives your reluctant nod, he starts doing things with your dash-board that makes you believe that the kid is a close associate of the terrorists that brought the World Trade Centre down. All the wires once neatly packed are snatched and snapped open and soon the deck is in his armpits and he is racing away.
In the shop, your deck is laid bare and examined closely. The wonder kid who removed the deck vanishes into thin air from here onwards. It turns out that he works freelance as a fitter for various shop. Now you have to deal with the deck’s problems at their terms. Their estimate has to be agreed to. Once you have paid for everything and waited for countless hours, your player is fixed and apparently starts working. The problem narrated in most cases by the repairmen is the malfunction of motor or head, which is invariably “short” in the market, hence expensive. But that is not the end of the story. Usually, the same problem resurfaces before you reach home or worse, an entirely new fault crops up before the sun sets. When you take the deck back, nobody admits his fault. They tell you that the new fault has no connection with the earlier one already fixed and that the player again needs to be detached for examination. Your heart sinks at the news.
Similarly, bleak prospects are reserved for people when one of the household appliances breaks down. The VCR is one such equipmentthat brakes down frequently and nobody could fix it permanently. T.V repairs have become costlier by the day. In the 80s and early 90s, an ordinary fault used to be fixed for Rs150 to Rs250. Nowthe repair people have taken the charges to a new level — a repair cost starts from at least Rs 500. Recently, when I took my father’s TV for repair, I was told to come the next day; not for the TV but for the estimate. In the night, I kept thinking of the possible amount of charges that will be quoted. The figure conveyed to me the next day was Rs 1,400, high enough to jolt me. I angrily took the TV to a guy in Delhi Colony, who did the job in half the rate, albeit after three visits.
So it is evident that when an electronic item gives trouble, it is time to cross your fingers. The repairmen are quacks as it were, who charge high but still do not manage a decent repair job. As for me, I have more or less made peace with myself over the subject. For TV and home deck repays, I have selected that old TV repair shop owner in Delhi Colony who over the years has proved to be the only honest, competent guy in the field. All these words of praise are obviously mentioned in relative terms. I left him some years ago but found that the other alternatives are fraught with even greater risks.
Next comes the refrigerator and airconditioner repairers. I have still not been able to find somebody to whom I can turn to without hesitation in case of need. However, as regards my car cassette player, I am fully protected against the repair mafia. I have no worries left any more. Last month, smalltime thieves relieved my car of the deck which, incidentally, I had recently got repaired after much haggling and headaches. It is strange, but yes, I felt a strange sense of joy at its theft.
ONE of the several events that are harbinger of depression happen when some electrical item or appliance that you own, malfunctions or stops functioning altogether. When that happens, I know it is time to say a little prayer as getting that thing repaired is a challenge in many ways. Although repair shops abound in the country, this fact provides no comfort. The problem is manifolds namely: fleecing, theft of parts and of course, incompetence. Much of my life has been consumed by dealing with and cursing these repairmen.
