Trust me

When someone is about to go to sleep, if he hears a news -whether it is good or bad - chances are high that he will have to try to go to sleep again after a good amount of time. 

That was what happened to me a few days back, in fact I was lucky, I had both good and bad news! While I almost fell into sleep, I got a call from my son who had gone out in car. Good news was that there was no accident on the way. Bad news was that car engine just ran but the gear was not getting engaged. Car was not moving an inch forward/reverse.

I immediately rushed to the spot on my two wheeler, a good 2 KMs away from home. I also tried a few stunts at random – switched the engine on an off, pushed the car for a few yards and switched on again, switched gears 1-2-3-4-5 and back and reverse, tapped on the steering wheel for a few times! No luck.  And I knew that the only thing we could do was push the car as much as we could do till we found a good place to park for the night and go home, trying to get some sleep then on. We did exactly that so that the vehicle could be towed to service centre next day morning. I had to trust that in that night no nocturnal animals/human beings would tamper with the vehicle parked in that no-man’s land.  And I trusted right, next morning no further damages to the vehicle.

As the car was pulled and dragged on the road by the towing van, I had to trust that it would reach the destination with no more incidents. I had to trust that the van driver would steer his own vehicle in such a way that in the process my own vehicle gets along with ample clearance in those busy roads. I trusted right again, the car and I were brought into the hands of the service engineer unharmed, though I did expect a huge dent to my pocket soon.

“Clutch loading plate gone, it needs to be replaced”, declared the engineer. From the tone of his voice and expression on his face I could make out that it was going to be an expensive affair.  “Is there any way you can refurbish and use the same part instead of replacing it with a new one?” , I asked not trusting my own confidence that he would agree to my suggestion. He had a grin on his face showing all his teeth which actually outnumbered the remaining few numbers of good teeth on the gear of my car! And he said, “No it is not possible”. I had to trust him, he knew much more than me.

Laborious replacement ceremony happened in 48 hours’ time. I went to the service station to collect the vehicle, not forgetting to carry along with me all my debit/credit cards and a few currency notes I had in cash. The engineer handed over me the damaged part, explaining what was the damage. I could not make out what the damage was which made it not to be repaired, but I had to trust him. And I had to clear a heavy bill to take the vehicle delivery. All the while driving back, I had to convince myself that the damaged part lying in the boot, which I would soon sell to a scrap dealer for peanuts, would not be refurbished and brought back to the service station for replacement for another car, if not for my own car during the next service. I had to trust that it would not happen.

Apples and other fruits are contaminated with pesticides, so I don’t buy them. I get used to driving on roads with potholes, the politicians will never get the roads tarred well. I hesitate to go to a doctor, as he would ask me to go through all unnecessary tests to test my patience. I rarely travel by train, as those trains were manufactured when I was a small child, unlike me, with no much preventive maintenance after its birth. Farmers commit suicide, nobody can trust when the monsoon rains will come and in what quantum. So happenings around make me not to trust many things.

In such not-so-good a situation, the service providers will attempt their best to show credibility and build the confidence in customers. While they keep doing that, as a customer all you can do is try to trust something which you are not sure of trusting, no reason for you to mistrust it either when it's your turn! Just to keep things moving and to make you decide on things and to move on, to be happy and not to sound like a grumpy old person. This approach is worthwhile, trust me.