Tajj, a motor mechanic, sits beside his wooden trunk chained to a tree under the pedestrian bridge at Plaza Square, Clifton, Karachi, from around 10 in the morning to seven in the evening, looking for work.

“From fixing brakes, clutch, engine transmission to overhauling the entire engine, I fetch enough to feed my family. I repair two to three cars in a day. Of course there are also times when I don’t find any work,” he says.

“The brakes, clutch and engine transmission work is all done on the spot but overhauling of engines takes longer and more than just a day. The car, too, needs to be left parked with us as its engine needs to be opened up. For that I have two assistants whom I have trained myself. Both own workshops where we have the car parked,” he provides.

And are his tools safe lying in a trunk on a footpath? “Yes, they are very safe as the shopkeepers and garage owners all around Plaza Square know us informal labourers very well. They keep a watch over our things, too, when we are not there to do it ourselves,” he assures.

So why doesn’t he have a workshop or garage like his assistants? Tajj says that he just hasn’t been able to save up to do that. “I have a wife and four children, too take care of,” he says.

When asked if his boys were also going to follow in his footsteps, the mechanic says he hopes not. “I am sending both my sons to school. I don’t want them to be mechanics. They have to concentrate on their studies and build a good life for themselves,” he shares.

The small, on the spot work, fetches the mechanic around Rs700 to Rs800, which can sometimes go up to Rs1,000 to Rs1,500. “And multiply the amount by two or three, and I am doing pretty okay with earning up to Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 per day,” he claims proudly.

When asked if it would have been better if he had a regular motor mechanic’s job instead of finding work on a day-to-day basis with fluctuating incomes, he answers in negative.

“Regular jobs take a lot out of you. Your masters impose too many rules and regulations on you. I cannot manage on a Rs7,000 to Rs8,000 monthly salary. My wife and children would starve then,” he says. “This way I can earn up to Rs40,000 at least,” he adds.

About his own mechanical training, Tajj informs that he learnt the work at a garage near Lea market. “I was 14 or 15 years old then and joined the garage soon after completing class five,” he says. “Frankly, life has taught me far more than what I learnt in school,” he says.

And what about the days when he returns home empty-handed? “Well, there have been days when I haven’t been able to find work for a long time due to unrest in the city or strike calls. Sometimes we have had to go to bed without food. We can tolerate that, too, but we can’t see our children sleep hungry,” he lets out a sigh.

“But where do we complain? We have no social security and aren’t represented by any organisation or union. We only know how to fight for our rights individually, which we do ,” he says. — S.H.