It was a normal day. An "Engineer To Be" got up in the morning, went through his usual morning chores, had breakfast, read a bit, had lunch. Very normal day. Surprisingly, his head was filled with no random thought that day.
Then he remembered that he had to take his car to a mechanic for some repair. It was going to be boring but it had to be done. So reluctantly, with an empty head he took his car and went to the mechanic. Sureshbhai, the in-charge over there asked what the problem was. The "Engineer To Be" started blabbering words like "Motor tak patrol pohoch nahi raha hai...Battery perfect hai.." After checking it out a bit, he said "Theek hai ruko...Main aadmi ko bhejta hoon..."
So there the Engineer was waiting, enjoying the breeze flowing. There was nothing else to do anyway. And then came the man Sureshbhai had sent and the engineer was surprised, bigtime. He was a normal person, nothing of that sorts, except that he was a boy of merely 13-14 years of age, maximum!
Some sort of doubt flashed in the mind of that "Engineer To Be" for a few seconds. "This kid is going to repair my car?" But the kid came, asked with a smile "Kya hua hai?" And there was "Engineer To Be" explaining him what the problem was.
As normally as a Doctor says after diagnosing a patient for mere two minutes that he has got a bit of throat infection and it'll be cured within no time, the kid explained what the problem was and said "Ho jayega fataak se!" And he just started working. Well, working and talking.
Imraan was his name and he was talking so casually as if he was talking to a friend. He was talking about various things. As vague as "main rickshaw chalana toh janta hoon...par gaadi mein thoda taklif hota hai..." He was so full of life! He once even got into a bit of quarrel with a fellow mechanic, and the way he faced it was astonishing. No bad word from him as such, but made the other one understand exactly what his point was. He knew hospitality pretty well, for he offered "a Cutting" to the engineer and insisted that he had it.
None of this affected his work nonetheless. He was working efficiently, with minimum tools and applying some simple physics "fundas" which the engineer had learnt. Well, learnt yet somehow seldom applied.
Imraan was a guy who probably never went to school. He wasn't introduced to the "Education" perhaps, and yet he was there, with tools in his hand, knowing and doing things practically, standing on his own with pride. That pride showed in his eyes, the manner in which he talked. Yet politeness never left him. He may not know the theory at all as to how parts like condenser and all worked. But he applied his simple logic to everything and said things that almost always made sense. That was the day "Engineer To Be" bought "tambakhoo" for the first time in his life. And why? To put it near the pipes of the fuel tank and all so that rats and mice don't chew them and destroy them.
And after some time, the "Engineer To Be" had once again started to evaluate his formal education so far. It was necessary no doubt, but not satisfactory. His car was repaired, fuel started reaching to the motor. Engine started roaring with the accelerator and so did the thoughts of "Engineer To Be". He went home with repaired car, lot of thoughts and sheer respect for Imraan.
