I am lost at words when I want to describe what a day 2nd September 2006 has been for me. From emotional turmoil to being one of the most hectic and disappointing day of my life.
When I woke up today I was still angry because of what had happened yesterday, it was like waking up and realizing the nightmare that you experienced wasn’t a nightmare at all, it was real life! � My priorities switched from teaching that idiot mechanic a lesson, to getting my motorcycle repaired at all cost. The whole house was tensed because of this, yet every one was nice to me and trying to get my spirits up.
After having a late breakfast it was time to go over to that mechanic’s shop, but before that it was time to call a person whom I use to call my best friend, a person because of whom I restrained my self last night from beating up that mechanic, a person who had promised me last night he would get my motorcycle repaired from that mechanic at all cost.
When I called him I found he was out on a date with his girlfriend and asked me to go to that mechanic with a cool and clear mind and every thing will be fixed. Well I rode to that mechanics shop, it turned out he wasn’t there and it would be half an hour before he would return. Then started the wait for the nincompoop to arrive, well he did arrived half an hour later, however he hadn’t gotten the bolt that he had broken last night and went out again to buy it. After another round of waiting for nearly an hour he arrived with the bolt, by this time the light was gone and the bolt couldn’t be welded out. So he took my motorcycle to another welding shop in a different locality and got the broken bolt out and fixed the new one.
When he arrived back, I told him to only touch the motorcycle if he could fix her. He arrogantly replied I will do it and after a bit of tinkering gave her back to me claiming she was cured. I decided to take her for a test ride and within 50meters found her to be still in a worse shape then ever and it felt like there was no Con Set at all! I took her back to him and said she is till not doing well to which his reply was he couldn’t fix it! By this time it was already half past one and I decided not to waste any more time dealing with that bastard and took her home.
When I reached home I knew that it was lunch time in all of the service centers, so I started contemplating which service center to take her to. Finally decided to take her to Bagga Link, but I didn’t knew if the Bagga link at karol bagh was open today or not. So I decided to give Manik a call, he didn’t knew either however told me he would find it out. And a friend that he is, he not only found their number he also gave them a call to find if they were open or not and then called me back telling me that it was open. After thanking Manik and before leaving for the service center I decided to message the so called friend of mine, following is the word by word extracts of that message:
“The F*****r couldn’t fix my bike and at this moment she is not even rideable in Delhi, let alone in hills. I will never forget this and thanks for not being there for me when for the first time I needed your help; won’t forget this either…â€
Needless to say I did get a call back from him, but there wasn’t even a slightest remorse in his voice and he was still sounding like I was making a mole out of a mountain. Well I didn’t wanted to waste any more time talking with him, so decided to cut the conversation short and headed for the bagga link in karol bagh.
The 12km ride was a total torture on both me and my sweetheart and despite a sense of urgency I couldn’t ride more then 60kmph due to her condition. I breathed a sigh of relief when I reached Bagga Link, but it was too soon to be doing that. They refused to take her saying they had too much work load and told me to bring her back on Monday. No amount of pleading and telling them about the urgency with which I need her and the fact I was about to leave for ladakh worked with them. However I did manage to force one of their mechanics to check her out and tell me what the problem was.
When he came back from the ride, he confirmed my doubts the Con Set was the culprit! While I couldn’t get them to fix her, I had managed to confirm the root cause of the problem. After thanking the mechanic, I headed to Karol Bagh to Sagar Auto who deals in Bajaj Spare parts. This is where a road side mechanic sits and fixes those parts, I took my bike to him and he confirmed as well that it was the con set. Told him to fix her up ASAP, he brought the parts needed for repairing her, however there was a problem. Due to the on going sealing drive the shop keepers had told the mechanics not to fix any bikes in front of their workshops.
So we decided to take her across the street away from the public view to work on her. When he opened up the upper Con Set we found the nincompoop mechanic (Rohit from Tagor Garden) had put one extra ball and also the balls weren’t the right sized ones for my motorcycle. After taking that trash out he started putting the new con set, just as he installed it, the heavens doors opened up. Now it was raining cats and dogs, we took shelter at a tea stall and waited almost half an hour for the rains to stop. Finally he was able to assemble her fully, but he headlight assembly was too loose and shaking. We decided to take her back to the Spare parts shop so that we could buy a seal to fix this. But then again the heavens decided to show their furry and we were once again forced to take shelter. This went on for a couple of more times and finally after two and a half hour she was fixed!
Total cost of the repairs was Rs. 290, however it seemed little compared to the trauma my bike and I went through in past 24hours.
When I reached home I got the news from Sunil that Kargil – Leh and Manali – Leh highway was closed for traffic due to rain and snow at various places. By this time I was exhausted by the day’s events and was in two minds whether to head out for the trip at the scheduled time or not. In the meanwhile I got a call from my so called best friend who was telling me to forget all this and be happy about the fact my bike was working properly now, all this while he was still trying to protect that nincompoop jackass mechanic.
Well with friends like this who needs enemy…
And I guess if you don’t really want enemies then one should really do without these “Friendsâ€â€¦
I have decided to postpone the trip until I get firm information that Manali – Leh route is open, however every thing is almost ready so I can head out any time I get that information.
2 Comments
Hi Yogesh,
Bloody painful to read what you’ve been through in the last 24 hours. Bastard road-side mechanics have tinkered with my bike in the past more than once, and things were never the same again.
I was just chatting with my friend Vikram about the mishaps that’ve occurred with your biking trip. And he perfectly said, “it only goes to show…no matter how prepared you are…shit can happen.”
We’ve made elaborate plans that we’ll do this, we’ll do that once we get to Ladakh, but if it continues to rain and snow the way it is, we’ll have to come back with empty cameras and memories.
Anyway, hope all the dark clouds hovering your trip clear quickly. Keep the posts coming!!!!
Thanks Varun, the weather situation is looking pretty grim at this moment. According to the weather forecasts the minimum temperature in Manali is 5 degrees, which means it might be snowing at Rohtang La and if that’s the case then it might be snowing at Baralacha La and Tanglang La. Lets see what happens next, I am still thinking of going for trip tomorrow morning unless I hear the Manali – Leh route is closed for the time being.