Monday, April 30, 2012

Repair anything that you want The Cooker Man - An unbelievable Repair centre in the middle of Delhi


Have you ever tried to get old products repaired, fretted and fumed on how it was that there was a reliable repair shop once upon a time and that now nothing seems to be right? This shop was discovered by me thanks to my irritated father, who knew about it, in the middle of Lajpat Nagar and kept forcing me to go there to repair my mother’s 50 year old Prestige pressure cooker. The high dome, a hep model at that time has been discontinued by the company and its broken handle was my father’s bane. Try as we might, it was not to be available anywhere. I was content using it with a broken handle. After an irritated session of ticking off and how youngster’s today cannot complete their work, we carted the pressur cooker to Lajpat Nagar. I cribbing sure it was a wild goose chase.

And I must confess, I was quite taken aback by the shop, its size and the depth of the products there. A small 6 by 4 ft shop old, dirty that one might not give it a second look. I must have passed it innumerable times during shopping binges in Lajpat Nagar but for the first time I was stunned by women who had carted their cookers / mixie / toaster….what have you….any model…any brand and voila the old man had a solution. One look at our cooker, he smiled saying yes it has been discontinued….rummaged here there, and came up with not one but a few handles with the rod, screws all together. He wrote the house number on the cooker, asked us to return after an hour or so. And believe it or not! Yes it did seem like Ripleys!!! The cooker stood there with two handles in utterly good shape. My father grinned saying, “what did I tell you, there is nothing that is not available in Delhi”!!!  I still cannot get over the shock of how he was able to find something in that tiny place which accommodated him, his son and two helpers.

Though the old man at the repair centre is short tempered and irritable, he has magical hands. Now, though I have realized he does have a sense of humour too…my subsequent visits with the travails of a pressure pan proved it. He accused me of letting the food get burnt, I told him it was an insult to my cooking. He countered saying, the pressure pan should be used as a cooker and not for frying or regular cooking! I said, “they tell you to do that in the advertisement, He grinned saying, “that is why they come with exchange offers for cooker every six months, follow it and sell it off” !!! I started laughing as two other ladies who had come with the same problematic cookers!!! Get your old electronic products / cookers (including firang ones) repaired and Enjoy a good dose of commonsensical lessons.

Location – In Lajpat Nagar Central Market – it is called Deepak Repair Centre, - it is in a galli popularly called Cooker wali gali.- Shop No. 9, (Pushpa Market), Central Market, Lajpat Nagar, # 29832614.
How to get there – Lajpat Central Market is at a rough distance of about 8 kms from Connaught Place. It is accessible by the Metro, Bus, Cars, auto and cycle rickshaws. Parking is a huge problem though!
Timings – The market is closed on Mondays.
Highlight – He also repairs mixies, electronic gadgets, can tell you where to source parts not available….he is a reservoir of knowledge provided.
Insider Tip – The Old man is extremely short tempered, irritable but a genius when it comes to procuring old parts and getting the product going. It is amazing how comfortable he is when repairing both Indian and International Brands (firang ones!). Yes, many women from Delhi’s upper crust colonies – Def Col, GK I or II, Vasant Vihar….think not twice before bringing their imported cookers to him together with Indian ones. Believe me, even the shapless ones can find a solution here. Speak politely, treat him not as a repair guy but a craftsman who is proud of his skill and you will be rewarded! The sense of relief when one gets in getting an old obsolete product working is REMARKABLE!!!

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