The Do it yourself or DIY dad who was a electrician,tutor, plumber …

Dads of our time were a different breed all together. The “Do it yourself dad” or DIY dad believed in doing everything by themselves. The struggles in their childhood days had made them a master of all fields. My engineer dad had completed his post graduation from the prestigious Allahabad University in late 1950’s. And by the end of the decade he had completed his Aeronautical engineering. His early education days were days of struggle. It’s probably the reason how he learned so many skills together.

I am not only talking specifically of my dad but all dads who had grown up in that period. The period was post independence. Job opportunities were limited and everyone was struggling. But the struggle led to people learning a lot of life skills. And it is these skills which made our dads the “Do it yourself” or DIY Dads.

The community which became extinct

As we have evolved with time, this community has become extinct. In fact if the new generation had kept the tradition alive, companies like UrbanClap , Housejoy would have never flourished. There is a beautiful series which was telecasted on Doordarshan called “Wagle ki Duniya” (Wagle’s world) written by the one and only RK Laxman. Click on the link to watch the series:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGyQlDI-DoE

Please note that Urbanclap has now changed their name to Urban Company. You can log onto their site by clicking at the following link:https://www.urbancompany.com/delhi-ncr

The DIY dad who was one of the finest electrician

The fuse box of earlier times was made of ceramic with a copper wire tied between two metal hooks. It so used to happen that whenever the power went out dad was the first one who would inspect the junction box at the entrance of the house. And remember that the DIY dad was not alone. He always had a junior standing next to him showing the torch aiming the light at the fuse. And when the spouse used to point that there is blackout in the whole neighbourhood, he will make the junior run to the nearest power station to check when the electricity will be restored.

Those were the days when there were no steam irons to press the clothes. The Iron of those times were actual real Iron meaning they were quite heavy to weigh and had an electrical element inside. There was no Teflon coating and it would take 5 minutes for the Iron to heat up. The Iron would conk off every month and the DIY dad would get a fresh element and repair it at home.

The All-in-one DIY dad

Changing tube light and bulbs, replacing broken switches or plugs were the easy tasks which the DIY dad performed without any difficulty. Once in a while my engineer cum DIY dad would take the challenge of doing a complex task like repairing a black and white television. Television of the Black and white era were not solid state meaning they didn’t have transistors but used a cathode ray tube to produce images. The television set we had was a brand called Televista and it started troubling after 3-4 years. I still remember I used to stand in front of the TV set with a full size mirror. Dad would adjust the picture horizontally or vertically from behind the TV set using a screwdriver looking into the mirror.

The Carpenter Dad

My dad was in a central government job and once got transferred from Delhi to Patna. The concept of packers and movers was altogether missing in the 1970’s. But no worries! The DIY dad was there. He would assemble large wooden planks by hammering nails in them and create a large wooden box sufficient enough for mom to pack her kitchen utensils in it.

So much was his love for carpentry that we had a full tool set at home with different types of saw. One which could cut wooden planks and one which cut metal. Hammering a nail in the wall or creating a wooden stand to support the water cooler was something which came naturally to him.

Plumbing services were in-house with the DIY Dad at home

India is still a country where water is scarce in so many villages though the urban areas don’t face so much problems. But in the 70’s and 80’s water was a scarce resource even in cities with the supply failing at least once a week. The house would be on fire the moment the tap went dry. It was dad who created an additional tank on the roof which used to act as a reserve supply in days of shortage or no-supply.

If the water tank at roof would overflow, he would ask his junior to climb the roof through a drainage pipe and check if the water float was broken. A new one was purchased and fixed with excellent plumbing skills. Leaking taps were fixed in-house without the services of a plumber just by changing the plastic washers. His life became much easier once M-seal came in the market.

The Tutor Dad

One of the scariest moment in my life was when I used to appear for terminal examinations in primary school. It was not the exam which I was scare of but replying to every question in front of dad. There were two parts to my exams. The first part was the written part in the school in the first half. The second part was verbal giving answers to every question to dad in the evening. Most of the time I would pass the former but failed in the latter.

Grocery buying with mom was his favourite shopping

Buying groceries and vegetables was a stress relieving exercise for him. In the evening he would have a cup of tea after coming back from office and then both mom and dad will head for Kotla Subzi Mandi (South Delhi) on a Bajaj Super scooter to buy vegetables. This was a weekly routine exercise.

And before I forget! He was also an expert mechanic who would repair his Lambretta scooter all by himself though success was limited.

If I compare dads of today’s generation (including me) and dads of our time then probably they will score much high on having various skills which we lack. Maybe the times in which they had grown technology was in nascent stages and had not made daily life comfortable. But then apart from learning the skills you also need to have a willingness to execute it. And this they had in abundance.

Read more such stories on my blog. Click on the link below:

Father the best batsman in the world to play Cricket

The Story of a Dad who has difficulty in saying “I love you the most”