TRADIES* SPECIAL EDITION of the BLOG: Indian window (a portal by another name) installation beats all time record


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August 15th 2016
Published: August 15th 2016
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Sojha, Inner Seraj Valley, Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh INDIA





Aug 15th 2016





If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade

Tom Peters



Where ever I am I always find myself looking out the window wishing I was somewhere else

Angelina Jolie



Mistakes are the portals of discovery

James Joyce



Keep passing the open windows

Queen song (and used in Hotel New Hampshire... John Irving)





Look. Tradies don't always get much attention in travel blogs. Well? Herein an attempt to amend all that disregard with a yarn about a man, a house, a mountain, a window, and a carpenter. All non-tradies take note to not take note.



As mentioned two blogs back, I was in need of a window. I have a bedroom and one other spare room in this house in the mountains, and that room had no window at all. It was dark and musty. And so I never used it. Guests are coming and I needed the extra room. There was a frame opening for a window but it was filled in with rock and rendered.



I checked with my landlord Rocky, and offered to pay for the cost of putting in a window. He contacted Lalit, a relative in the next village who is a 'carpenter'. To clarify, a carpenter in India isn't someone who's necessarily done a course in carpentry. It's someone who's put the odd bits of wood together in the course of building something that may or may not have later fallen apart.



Lalit showed up the next day for a look and quote. He said it would cost 3,500 rupees (about Aust $70) not including me getting the glass and preparing the window hole by clearing out the rocks and render. From my research this seemed a tad high but OK. Lalit said he would be able to begin in a week's time and that it might take a few days to complete.



A week went by during which Rocky informed me that Lalit had said he was having difficulty sourcing the wood. Now here is the thing... we live in the middle of a veritable forest. Wood is milled direct in these parts. But there are (rightly so) government restrictions placed on the taking of wood. Only that, for as many restrictions that exist, there are many more what they call 'wood mafia' who have ways and means to get around them.



Meanwhile I discover that Rocky has a private cache of pre-milled fine timber stacked along the wall in one of his rooms. I ask why we can't just use that. He says he is saving it for a good price to sell. “What? It's your house we need the window in so......??” He says maybe we can use that wood but the price will be high. I roll my eyes. “Your house ji”. I ponder too on how much wood is actually needed to do just one window.



After a week and no clarity, Lalit confirms that he now has no time to do the job in any case. I am anxious about getting this done in time for my pending visitors. There is another carpenter (Charan) in a further village (not a relative of Rocky but I met him when he was doing some work here last year – nice guy). Rocky rings him and there is a loose arrangement for him to come and see.... in two days time. I am careful to get his number off Rocky. Two days later no show and Rocky has disappeared for the day.



I ring Charan myself. He speaks no English and I am chuffed that I am able to have a full grammatically correct conversation with him in Hindi and we arrange for him to come the next day at 9 am. Sorry... I am learning Hindi so I had to mention this fact.



Charan arrives for what I assume is a look and a quote. He has a little market shopping bag with him. But before I know it he is at work using his elaborate tool box (the shopping bag) which contains an adze, an old hand saw, a large and small wood plane, two chisels and a few little measuring devices. No hammer (the back of the adze serves as a hammer), no nails (Rocky scrounges for some old ones but mostly the job is joinery with no nails needed), no screw driver.



There has been no negotiation about price nor about the source of wood. Rocky miraculously produces some old bits of door jamb he had and also supplies a few pieces of quality wood from his stash. He again says he will charge me (at his premium price). I again say “it's your house ji, so maybe a 'fair' price?”



By the end of day one the window jamb (old wood) is in place and things are looking pretty good. Next morning, with nothing said to me, I say I might go down to the metropolis of Banjar (a small regional centre about 11 km down the road from the base of my mountain) and purchase hinges and screws and locks and handles and (if Charan is ready with the measurement) glass. There is no discussion about when these might be needed and as far as they (Rocky and Charan) know I might not be back before days end. This puzzles me and I am mindful that by the time I return Charan may have gone home and god knows when I might get him back again.



I do get back mid-afternoon having carefully strapped the glass to the back seat of my Royal Enfield (Gladys the wonder bike) and lugged it by foot up the mountain track. Charan has at this stage gotten as far as he can (the window frame is all done and ready) and is sitting comfortably inside having chai with Rocky's mum. Since when I don't know... and for how long he might have sat god only knows.



He gets back to it and within an hour the whole lot is completed. I have to lend him my hammer and screw driver to attach the fittings.



I have researched the price of labour (500 rupees a day) and I am determined to pay Charan myself (not go through Rocky as part of some all-inclusive price he comes up with). In these parts there is the monetary pay and then there is the lodging and food included. Often a tradesman has to walk a great distance up and down mountains to get to the job and so just stays overnight. In this case Charan is not that far from home and spent the intervening night back home.



I ask Charan how much per day. To my relief he confirms that it is 500 rupees (he is a nice guy). I figure he has done at least one and a half days work, decide to just pay him anyway for two days and so I pay him 1,200 rupees. He wants to give me back the 200 rupees extra but I tell him I am happy and consider him a friend. All good.



I don't see Rocky again until the following day and he has said nothing about the wood. I wonder what he is thinking. It took eight pieces of wood (four for the jamb using old wood; and four milled bits for the window joinery frame). Friends have told me that would maybe be about 300 or 400 rupees normally. One good local friend tells me in any case to pay nothing: “It's his house and you are already paying rent”.



I decide to let it go until such time as Rocky might mention the wood. But he is also basically a good guy and I am assuming he has also now realised: “It's my house... and now I have a functional extra room with a window”.



The room is now wonderful and useful. Airy and light.



So ends the yarn.







* An Australian term of those who make their living from having a trade e.g. Carpenters. Short for 'tradesman' and 'tradeswomen. Tradies are both respected (for their wealth... next to Dentists they are the kings for the way they charge) and despised (for their wealth and the way they charge.. and the fact that in their case the customer is not always right and nor can the customer expect a tradie to turn up at the appointed time or on the appointed day).

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15th August 2016

Tradies are the same the world over...
interesting story!
15th August 2016

Good looking guest room
I'm totally impressed with the speed and competence of the job! I've always heard that trades work will cost 3 times as much as quoted and take 3 times as long--you got a deal! Plus, wise to pay the carpenter a bit extra and make a friend. I should think in your valleys, word of your kindness gets passed around. Have fun being a host, now!
16th August 2016

Tradies special
Glad to see your blog is back hope you wake everyday with a smile
18th August 2016

A room with a view
Loved your story. Thanks for sharing.

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