Yeda Banaya, Bada Mazaa aaya

This ones dedicated to the Naivety and unawareness of one who was made a Yeda (a fool); only recently (name revealed later - unless u r smart to guess it in the first paragraph)

Buying a house isn't such a headache but getting carpenters and electricians to make up the home is, I have noted. You know when you buy something new you have that warm awesome feeling inside which pushes to take care of it nicely (though mostly it’s never beyond a week), keep it in the cover always, wipe it on the slightest inch of dust on it, get expensive accessories etc – The same with a higher level of intensity and higher durability is what I have. It’s a house for god’s sake, the feeling has to last.

I have had bad experience with carpenters before. They give you an appointment at 11 am and you end up calling them back to back till 5 pm and then an hour later they arrive - 'fas gaya tha' is their explanation - 'Mar kyon nai gaya' is what I don’t blurt out. Pune is a villainous place (No I am not even going to mention about transport) unless you have your family carpenter, plumber, electrician, bhaji wala and the chai wala.

I wanted to put up curtains in my house, place some mirrors and cloth hangers - that was all. The shop from where I bought the hangers and stuff offered me the services of the guy who will help me put up the rods and drill holes and shove some nails in the wall. I was happy - I didn’t have to chase anyone. I met the guy. Asked him how much he will charge. He said 550. I thought maybe he is really efficient - a high charge is high quality, isn't it. Atleast for my new home it made sense.

He arrived at my flat in 30 minutes of me reaching - impressed. He started work in a jiffy. He had a helper also along with him. If a job is done in one hour by one worker, it’s done in half an hour with 2 workers - my logical mind spoke. In about 45 minutes they were done.

Result - a shoddy job. The curtain fixers were not in the same line on one window. One end was slightly heading north. In one window they cut the rod so short that it was rendered useless and I was asked to exchange it and fit it myself - wow! I was unhappy. The Villainous Pune gets back at me once again. I argue that I will pay less and gave then 450. They sat down saying that they won’t leave unless I pay what was agreed upon. I pay another 50 and get rid of them.

I call my Mom and tell her that I have put up the curtain rods and asked how much she pays in Mumbai. She says 100 bucks. I was zipped and didn’t mention the cost I paid – to avoid is better than to bear. A couple of days later, a friend visited me. I asked him how much he pays for such work in his house and he said 10 bucks per hole. And I rushed to the bedroom to count the number of holes drawn and that was 15. 150 bucks, shit!!

Somewhere far, very clear to my ears, I feel this April fool’s day rhyme playing – Yeda Banaya Bada Maza aaya.