I have been repairing cycles as long as I can remember. My Bappa [father], Pareedkunju, owned this shop. After he passed way, I took over the shop. It is a rented place but we have been repairing cycles here for the last 55 years.
I began helping my Bappa right from the time I was in school. After studying till class seven, I dropped out of school and began working here, full time. There has never been a time when I did not have work.
See, look around for yourself…, you can see the place is filled with cycles of all kinds. Many people still ride a bicycle and so I am always busy. The peak season is during the summer vacations when school students get time to go for a ride or learn cycling. I have even sold some second-hand cycles during that period.
The only problem in my trade is that once customers leave their bicycle here, many of them never come on time to take it back. Some of them may retain a bicycle for sentimental reasons while some ride a bicycle for it is the healthiest and cleanest form of transportation. But not all of them look after their wheels with care.
I repair tyres, replace tubes, oil the parts… there is nothing I don’t do. Most of the parts can be bought in the city but sometimes, if the cycle is old, it becomes a problem to get spare parts.
I did try to diversify by stocking some spare parts for cycles but that was not very profitable. This shop is just enough for me to make end meets. During my Bappa’s days, there used to be paid apprentices. They came from different places to learn the work. Now, it is difficult to find anyone who wants to learn this.
I open at 8 a.m. and shut shop at 10 p.m. No holidays. I am open on all days. I live just across the canal at Vallakadavu and so I go home for lunch at about 2 p.m. and am back in my shop again.
I am 47 now and this trade has helped me bring up my daughters, marry them off….Many years ago, I used to watch movies of Prem Nazir, Jayan and, later, Mammootty and Mohanlal. But now, they just don’t make the same kind of films. So I have stopped going to the cinemas. Instead, I plug in my radio to listen to old Malayalam songs. I am very fond of those songs.
[A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is]
