From an early age, or more specifically from my teenage (if you consider that early for a Millennial), the dream of becoming a DIY person is my dream. In other term, a handyman. To some extent, I have established myself as one, but professionally, I am hundreds of miles away from being one.
Long ago, but not so long ago, perhaps before I became too much of a motorbike enthusiast, I was a random rider. Mostly riding the bike without knowing what’s going on inside the engine. However, it was my father who sparked my interest in learning more about this beautiful machine and the engineering behind it.
My father was a cautious rider. He is still one but back in his youth, when he had to ride his prized possession for roughly 200 km a day (being a chief marketing officer, not a digital one, takes its toll), I have seen him listening to the engine sound for 2-3 minutes before starting his journey everyday morning. No matter how busy he was, his first step before rolling on the road was to detect any unusual sound of the engine, checking the oil level (2-stroke was his first one), and air pressure on both tyres.
After I got promoted to 6th grade, it was he who first asked me to give it a try while he was my pillion rider. I remember the day still to this date. He took me to an industrial park where roads are mostly unused during a particular time of the day on Friday and asked me to hit the gas while he, from behind, controlled the clutch. Perhaps he was not confident to let me do them both— accelerator and clutch, but I believe he did it in the right way. It was a few lesson sessions before he allowed me to take control of them both. That memory will live forever with me. During the learning session, he used to guide me on technical details of every fault I would make, for example, why the engine roared more, why the bike is vibrating, why the overheating issue, and so on. And he always focused on one thing, never exceed your limit. Good lesson, indeed.
From my preliminary stage to my graduation from biking, I have bonded myself with the machine in every way possible except the inside of an engine. But I had this long dream of being able to detect any unusualness of the engine, like my father. Didn’t happen. Although now I have some ideas and can sense anything unusual, I cannot say it with confidence.
So, I decided to add it to my skills. Roughly 3 years ago I put it on my bucket list. I was serious at some point and tried to learn from visuals, e.g. YouTube and Blogs. But you know, they aren’t enough. I must confess learning in practical life is far more different than seeing it in some tutorial videos. So, I decided to get more knowledge, real-life experience in understanding and fixing the machine. I decided to offer my assistance to local garage and repair shops. Everybody laughed. They laughed more when I told them I was planning to do it for free. Here, where I am now, nobody can imagine someone offering physical labour for free— hours mean money, I know that too. But sometimes you have to invest to learn something, I want to invest my time if not money in it.
The mission is still on. Already visited a few local shops, and asked them to do a favour— to let me help them with whatever I have to offer. All I wanted was to learn, I tried to convince them. But it is not as I thought. You have to pay insurance for every person you employ; paid or internship— and the insurance amount isn’t a joke. So, will you pay for someone who can barely help you with your business? I wouldn’t. But I am hopeful; that someone will be generous enough to do so. Till then, the quest continues.