Occupation: Repairing mixers and grinders
See, the aluminium screw that holds the jar bush is all but gone. Salty solutions can do that. I’ll bet this is just three to four years old. Parts of old mixer jar used to last for more than eight years. Today no one really cares to repair appliances. If something is not working, they throw it away or exchange it for a new one.
I studied at the government Industrial Training Institute (ITI), passing out in 1966. For the next two years, I worked as an AC mechanic at Neyveli Lignite Corporation. I opened this shop in 1968. Back then there weren’t many houses that had such appliances. Most of the city’s clients were from Jawahar Nagar. I repaired only refrigerators and ACs. Professor Joseph Mundassery was one of my clients.
Back then the shop was called United Engineering works, which was later changed to Thara Engineering works, after my daughter. Although there were not many clients, there was brisk business as skilled technicians were hard to come by.
People used to bring ACs and fridges by train from as far as Varkala and Edava. I also trained youngsters to be AC/fridge technicians as the Industrial Training Institute would take in only so many students and there was a demand for skilled workers in West Asia. At one point there were so many students that I had to open an institute. I ran it for six years from 1971 to 1976.
By 1978, mixers and grinders were becoming popular. When my friend became a Sumith mixer dealer, he offered me a portion of the business. It was something new for me. I was hooked to it pretty fast and I shifted my focus completely towards mixers and grinders. Also, by then, there were quite a few AC/fridge technicians in the city.
Sumith used to make the best kitchen appliances. Brown and Sanusi were two of the foreign mixer brands, usually imported, that people used to have. The main repair that we do is the winding of the motor. It gets damaged after years of use, mostly due to short circuits. Other works include replacement of couplers, bushes and bearings. In grinders, the leaking of drums is a big issue.
But a lot has changed. The fundamental principles behind the working remains the same, but the appliances have become sophisticated. Even the mixer blades have changed. Now you get edged blades for different purposes that were unheard of during 80s or 90s. Today I only fix those hitches that I know really well. Some people bring old mixers to repair and then just leave it here. Those dusty mixers on the old stand there are those that have been dumped here. They won’t answer the phone when I call them. I repair fans too. The old table fans that I am using in the shop are the ones that were brought here for servicing and abandoned.
I stopped working actively in 2012. Many of my friends are spending their retirement at home. But I still enjoy fiddling with things and that is why I haven’t closed this shop. There is not much work.
Most of the folks who come here are clients who have been coming to me for years. I open the shop at 9 am and close at 7.30 pm. In between there is a short lunch break, from 1.30 pm to 3 pm.
My house is at Kaithamukku. I live with my wife, Geetha. Our daughter lives in Dubai with her husband and two kids.
Contact: 8547162528
(A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
