I am at home on a Sunday afternoon. The Delhi weather continues to be pleasant quite miraculously considering that the month of May (which is peak summer time), is hardly a week away. I am penning down some random thoughts with malice towards none.
This time it was a conscious decision to either get my blackberry repaired or do away with it. Before long, I started to enjoy the happenings at the self styled mobile service center cum accessory shop cum Mobile/Laptop Lamination Center which I had visited towards attaining this objective. I preferred this center to an authorized Blackberry service center for the quiet efficiency of the man running the show.
The service center occupies all of 30 Sq feet space in one of South Delhi's busy commercial hubs. At any given time there are at least 4 to 5 people in this space, besides the patrons and clients.
The 4 to 5 people are youngsters and boys who are at the beck and call of the buyers responding to their requests for fancy mobile covers, mobile guards, Key pad guards and so on.
They also take on the mantle of directing the consumers who are interested in getting their mobile serviced, whatever be the model, to the one man service resource, Shanubhai, as he is respectfully called.
Shanubhai is the king of all he surveys. Get a problematic cell phone to him and within seconds he is ready with the extent of repair required, an elaborate quote and the time it will take for getting the cell phone "back to life".
Then you have the rare patron who's unable to explain what problem he is having with his cell phone, partly since he is from one of the southern states of the country. A literal translation of what he wants to say doesn't help Shanubhai in understanding him.
"Doosre ko sunta hai, Hum ko sunta nahin hai ." Meaning that I am able to hear what the other person is saying but the other person is unable to hear what I am saying .
After Shanu bhai has lent his cell phone the magical touch, his worries are finally put to rest though he takes some time to actually get convinced on this, for more reasons than one.
To add to the direct clients he recieves, Shanubhai's services are also utilized by the Mobile shop next door. This is a one stop shop for cell phones, accessories and repair consultation.
The smart cookie that this guy is, he is able to charge a premium for the repairs through the use of technical jargon like charging jack, scroller assembly and the likes.
I begin to wonder how the cell phone has become an integral a part of our lives and the amount we are ready to spend on it.
What a booming industry this has become in a matter of one decade and I cant think of a better example of blatant consumerism there can be in today's context without undermining the utility of the instrument as a communication device.
Coming back to my Blackberry, after a wait of almost 3 hours, I finally got it back in a working condition, So hopefully all's well that ends well.
Till next time then and keep smiling. :)