Yesterday, I called my regular AC chap to service the air conditioners at home and received a shock. “I can pencil you in sometime after a week,” said he. Was he going out of town in the interim, I asked? His reply was emphatic: “I can’t leave town at all this month!” he said, “I don’t have the time to breathe in March — everyone gets their ACs serviced at this time…” It turned out that the man was servicing more than 12 air conditioners a day for Rs 400-Rs 450 per unit. I did some maths and realised that for him and other AC service providers, the year was certainly ending with a bang. The outlook for the new fiscal year, he said, looked quite bright too. “April is not as busy as March, but we still manage to service about eight to 10 ACs daily,” said he, “and that’s when we’ll be able to accommodate you!” He warned that post April, the deluge of orders for assembled ACs would begin, so I should make sure to have my work done by mid April. I thanked him profusely for agreeing to do my work, and hung up wondering about how things have changed in the last few years.
As anyone who’s recently used the services of a plumber, electrician, carpenter or mason will attest, skilled technicians are more in demand today than ever before. There was once a time, when young boys who couldn’t do anything else were taught to repair taps and change electric wires. Today, with electricians charging anywhere from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000 per visit, this has changed. The endless middle class aspirations for better gadgets, luxurious loos and fancier homes have created a huge demand for skilled technicians. “People now understand the value of electricians who are skilled and well versed with the latest gadgets,” said a very superior-sounding electrician when I spluttered at the rates he wanted to charge me for coming over for some sundry repairs. “Call someone inexperienced (and cheap), and he may spoil not just the wires, but also your expensive appliances…” he warned. Experience equalled expense, I realised as I shelled out much more than I’d expected to pay that day.
Another time, when a blocked drain in the loo left several plumbers flummoxed, a “master” plumber was suggested to me. He actually lay on the ground, ear pressed against the drain pipe, and followed the sound of water until it hit the blockage. He drilled a tiny hole and found a small bag of cement blocking the pipe exactly there! The master plumber said that years of experience had made his hearing so acute that he could actually “hear” the blockage instead of breaking tiles or floors to “see” it… When the job was accomplished without breaking any floor tiles, I was happy to pay him the price he commanded.
A friend told me about a young mason he’d recently met. When he started masonry, he thought he’d hit a dead end soon. Today, when he sees educated youngsters wear scratchy ties and creased trousers for white-collar jobs that pay Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per month, he’s laughing all the way to the bank… Although skilled technicians are classified under the unorganised sector and receive no health benefits or pension, this sector is booming. There’s no system of accreditation, so you’ll never know exactly how trained or experienced that plumber you hired really is. Yet, the ever-growing demand for these skilled technicians often makes them so hard to pin down, that when they land up at your doorstep you’re too grateful to find out. Makes me wonder a little — who’s hiring whom?
