Eons ago I used to have a Sohrab bicycle. After a million revolutions of the wheel and few rotations of earth, it developed a certain mechanical fault. The fault was beyond my capabilities to repair so I took it to our street corner bicycle shop. The owner and chief mechanic of this shop was known as Badshah Khan. He was indeed the badshah (king) of this street corner. After I explained to him the problem, he asked me to ride the bike infront of him and give him a demonstation of what was wrong. So I did. Watching me helplessly trying to ride the bike and failing miserably, Badshah Khan moved his head up and down as if he understood every thing, then he let out a cold sigh (sard aah!) and said:
“woooaay, is ke kuttay fail ho gaye haiN“ (bow-wow, its dogs have failed)
(Note: The word “woooaay” as written above has no meaning. In Urdu (and Pushto) it is called ‘muhmil’ word and it is used to put stress on the meaningful sentence that follows next)
“Whaat?” I asked in disbelief. “What do you mean by ‘kuttay fail ho gaye haiN’?” There are no dogs around here. And what did they fail in? Their exams?
“ye jo tum cycle pe khaali khaali taang chalata hai…ye kuttay fail hota hai“ Badshah Khan answered.
I think I understood then. The ball bearing which connects bicycle pedals to the main gear had got some ‘play’ in it. It is mostly caused by the misalignment or overloading. Therefore I kept pedalling but the cycle never moved as the force never got transferred to the wheels. This mechanical failure, where a bicycle’s ball bearings fail is commonly known in Pakistan as ‘kuttay fail hona’.
Once I came over my amusement, laughter and disbelief, I noticed that it is a very common terminology in Pakistan where almost all bicycle riders know what is meant by ‘cycle ke kuttay fail ho na’.
Badshah Khan told me that it was not possible to repair or adjust ‘kuttay’ (ball bearings) in his workshop as it will require advanced machinery, therefore he replaced the whole bearing for Rupees 10. ‘aakhir marta kia na karta’ (what other choice did I have?), I said ok and got my bicycle repaired.
After that day, whenever I see a biker running pedals fevereshly but without being able to move, it makes me smile – becaue it does look very funny – but more than that I exaclty know what is mechanically wrong with the bike. “os Cycle ke kuttay fail ho chukay hotay haiN” (That cycle’s dog have failed).
I wonder what was the background/ history of this terminology in Pakistan. I have thought and thought again but to not avail. I can not relate a ball bearing’s failure to a dog’s failure by any stretch of imagination. Can you?
Do you also know of any other funny terminologies that are commonly used in Pakistan’s Auto/Machine industry?
Photo Credits: Title photo is from wikipedia.com
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Musaafir :) Yes I know the term “GODAY reh gaye hain”. I remember this ‘GODA’ test used to be a must before one could buy a used car. A car was driven in sharp circles, with windows down and people (i.e. driver, one hired ‘mistry’ and driver’s family on back seat) had their heads sticking out of windows; all trying to listen to any sound coming from car’s knees i.e. GODAs i.e. ball joints. Good recall :) :) This one made me smile.
Actually I think the proper term, in major parts of Punjab is “Kuttay murr gayy hain”, literally, “The dogs have died”.
Another popular one is, “Godday reh gayy hain” literally, “The knees have given way”, when a car’s ball joints (struts) fail.
Jawad, you are also right :) In all these years I’ve forgotten whether it was pedal part that had got play or the back wheel hub. One of them did for sure. I kept rotating the pedals, the chain also moved but the wheel never moved. This symptom is called ‘kuttay fail hona
When my cousin Asma was about 5 years old, she would get off her tricycle and put air in all the tires with her imaginary hand pump. In true Badshah Khan style she would hold the bottom of her kamiz or frock between her teeth as she pumped with great rythm and focus. She would also rock back and forth in addition to up and down.
I enjoyed your story, and I dont doubt its veracity. But something does not seem right. Its been a long long time since I had a Sohrab of my own. It sounds like your pedals were turning freely. In other words, one full turn of the pedals is not causing a full turn of front sprocket, right? This sounds like a broken crankset.
The pedals are attached to cranks which are rigidly attached to the front sprocket. It sounds like the failure of this attachment. The bearings are just there to make sure the center shaft (axle) can rotate inside the bottom bracket. Bearing failure would simply mean additional friction or inability to turn the crank. Loose bearings would also cause in-and-out play in the pedals, but they would not make your crank slip as you describe it. Did I miss something?
So, in conclusion, the dogs were innocent. Or the referred to the crankset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crankset