USTAD & CHHOTU

Ustad & Chhotu
There are very few professions where still the age old " Guru Shishya " tradition for transfer of knowledge and skill is still practiced.The great Indian classical music is one such profession which is respected world over. They say that for learning  music one must have Guru ..it cannot be  learned  in the school or college.... one has to go  to Guru only .One observes several graduates and post graduates in music who are nowhere near in the  skill to  those who never got any formal  degree in music!

Now Can you guess which is another profession where Guru - Shishya  tradition is followed ? Yes ...it is  practiced extensively in the profession of learning car repairing.

In India the roadside mechanics who repair and service the cars are slowly on the verge of extinct.There are valid reasons for that.Unlike in the good old days when only Ambasoder and Fiat cars ruled the Indian car market, today there are more than 30-40 varieties of cars on the road .The number of authorised service centres for these cars are present all over the places.Due to ease of availability of spares at authorised service centres and since at least 3 services are offered free ,when the new car is bought ,people have started visiting car  service centres initially for the servicing and then for the repairs. Roadside Car mechanics therefore raerly get chance to repair or service new cars nevertheless skill of these car mechanics who work in their small  garage  cannot be challenged.

 I have observed many  small  Garages ,  where they  do " car repairing" .Here there will be one knowledgeable person who   is called USTAD and other persons are trained and play the role of "shishyas" . The youngest among them is referred to as  "Chhotu" .Generally there will  be staff of 3 or 4 persons out of which at least one is waiting to become Ustad .

Unless the Ustad  gives him permission , the chief assistant keeps working in that small place and releases all his anger on "Chhotu". One will observe that Chhotu who is a small 10 or 12 years old kid is abused by all other staff and Chhotu has to assist everyone.Over a period of time Chhotu learns which spanner or which tool is demanded for the work in progress though his master will not specify it explicitly.From the tool box or from wherever that required  tool is lying ,Chhotu has to discover it and if he takes longer time he is abused time and again. Chhotu does all the jobs which are unskilled jobs and never gets any independent work as physically he is weak. He cannot change the wheel nor can unscrew hard nuts because of lack of strength , but within 4-5 months or sometime 1 year , Chhotu becomes tough and Ustad then starts giving him some useful independant assignments  related to car repairing. Ustad never entertains  complaints of others but he will protect Chhottu  if other assistants start exploiting the youngest.Ustad's word is the last word and in his absence senior most person dictates his terms

When the new  customer comes   to the shop only Ustad interacts with the customer. Others are supposed to keep quiet .Anyone who opens his mouth is abused by Ustad . Infact Ustad rearly  talks any full sentence without using unparlamentry words .I have heard several such  words first time at Garage and no-one takes those words seriously.


 There will be  similar shops nearby and Ustad will have amicable relations with other shop owners and they indeed help each other in sharing their resources including "Chhotus". There are specialised shops of denting painting , shocker repairing ,gear box /differential and and electrical.Ustad will know which jobs he will have to   outsource and which jobs will be done in his shop. Sharp minded Chhotu is supposed to learn all these things by observing the process of repairing .For becoming Ustad he needs to have good over all knowledge of all areas of vehicles  and specialised knowledge and skill of at least one area like Engines or Gear box or  dent removing.Average time for any  Chhotu to become Ustad is more than 10 to 12 years and not all " chhotus " become Ustad.

It is observed that the great  " Sardar " community has absolute majority in the field of component manufacturing of vehicles , while in repairing of the vehicles persons from the Muslim community have sharp brain and skill to  play the major role. When authorised service centre persons cannot solve some problem they consult some Ustad as many mechanics in the service centre were earlier trained by these Ustads.So called experts in the service centre ,who have degrees cannot guide their mechanics and as a result many parts are unnecessarily replaced to fix the problem.

I remember a famous picture " Chalati ka Naam Gaadi " in which Kishor Kumar is mechanic while his brother Anup Kumar is Automobile engineer. How correctly it was shown that when Madhubala brings her car for some repairs , Anup Kumar fails to solve the problem while Kishor Kumar does it easily ! Car repairing is an art and formal degree in automobile does not necessarily  help.

I don't recommend to go to road side mechanic for car repairing  but the truth is that some of them have better skill than the mechanics in the authorised service centres and they do the job at less than half the cost. I really feel bad as this breed is declining in number.

Unfortunately these days , one sees  more beggers on the road of Chhotu's age, than     " Chhotus " in Garages. 

May be the Child labour act is  implemented with heavy hand !





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