Inspiration Pakistan: Salim Autos

Owais Mughal

jaanwar, aadmi, farishta, khuda
aadmi ki haiN seNkRoN qismeN

This is a story about common people of our society. I have deliberately used the word ‘Common’ in a worldly materialistic sense as the main characters of this story were neither famous, nor very educated. They were not rich either. Still they affected the lives of people around them. Sometimes in a subtle way and sometimes in a stong way.

Salim Autos was a small spare parts shop. It was located on the ground floor of an apartmet building in Block 16 of Federal-B-Area. I am using past tense here because I don’t know if the business is still there or not. I used to bring my motorcycle there in early 1990s for repairs and oil change.

The owner of Salim Autos was called Mr. Salim. I guess, no surprises there. Salim had sub-contracted the government owned side-walk infront of his shop to a mechanic named Munoo. There was an unsaid and untold synergy between the two. Whenever Munoo was doing repairs, he recommended parts from Salim Autos to the motorcycle owner. This way both benefited from eachother.

While Munoo was an able mechanic, he had this chronic problem of laziness and coming to work late. Sometimes during a repair procedure, he would open up the guts of a motorcycle, spread them all over the sidewalk and then walk away for a leisurely tea break. While he would be sipping on his cosy tea, the motorcycle owner would be standing guard; all tense and nervous; seeing his bike broken down into pieces and spread all over the sidewalk.

Many things distracted Munoo from his work. If it was not his tea, then it was a fruit seller or few pretty ladies walking by or even a cat looking for food, which would catch his full attention. Munoo also considered it his prime duty to ask for the well being of any known passer by. After all these social activities, the bike work was usually still left to be done. A poet has rightly said:

teray koochay is bahaane mujhay din se raat karna
kabhi is se baat karna kabhi os se baat karna

Despite all the worldly faults mentioned above, Munoo however, was an expert in his profession. At his own given pace, he would artistically put together the bike again and get it going. That is what kept his customers coming back inspite of the long waits they had to endure.

Salim was not happy with such unprofessional detours of Munoo from his work. In Urdu we have a sentence that perfectly describes the inner feelings of Salim at such occasions.

“Munoo ki ye haalat dekh kar Salim dil hi dil meiN kuRha karta tha”
(After observing Munoo‘s work ethics, Salim used to feel sick to his stomach)

Munoo, though fully aware that Salim didn’t like his work ethics, didn’t care much. He infact thought that he was bringing more business to Salim Autos than the other way round. His attitude reminds me of a sher:

sach hai meiN ne hi budnaam kia hai tujh ko
mujh se pehlay teri shuhrat kabhi aisi to na thi

One day while wearing a ‘hat of patience’, I was getting my motorcycle’s oil changed by Munoo when Salim walked by. Following exchange of golden dialogues took place between the two:

Salim: “Munoo miaN, zara ghabra kar kaam kia karo” (Mr. Munoo, work with a feeling of panic)

Munoo: “ghabra kar?” (with a feeling of panic?)

Salim: “haaN haaN, ghabra kar” (yes yes, with panic)

Munoo: “magar woh kaisay?” (but how?)

Salim: “kaha na ghabra kar…bus baat khatam” (because I said so… end of story)

I don’t know if Munoo got it or not but I interpret them as working with responsibility. Feeling too much responsibility is kind of a burden which brings panic to one’s face.

From time to time, Salim’s words still ring in my ears. If I am working on something with long deadlines where I tend to slack a bit, I tell myself: “zara ghabra kar”. It keeps me from becoming too complacent. I think this is one of the real life lesson I learnt from the street.

Also when obstacles seem overwhelming, I think of how Munoo used to take it so easily. There was no job difficult enough for him. He always completed it and did it in style without taking any pressure from anyobdy. This is another real life lesson I learnt from the street.

The work philosophies of Munoo or Mr. Salim are not universal. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. That is where a person’s own judgement comes into play. One needs to pick up what works for him/her. A sher which I have used before in another article, is worth repeating here:

asal, shahood – o – shahid – o – mashood ek hai
hairaN hooN phir mushahida hai kis hisaab meiN

Photo Credits: Photos for this post have been taken from flickr.com. Clicking on the images will take you to their source websites.