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Caught in a fix

What do you do when the tap starts leaking? Call the plumber in panic? ANAND SANKAR puts Gen Now through a do-it-yourself skill test and is disappointed with the results

ILLUSTRATION : SATHEESH VELLINEZHI

NEW-AGE IGNORAMUS Screwdriver? What's that?

How many techies does it take to fix a tubelight? None would probably be the right answer. But hold on, this is no cheap dig at our beloved techies. It is a serious reflection on the one skill our Gen Now seriously lacks — the DIY (short for do-it-yourself) skill.

How many times have you seen your father or uncle (or your brave mom) replace a leaking tap in a jiffy or fix that blown fuse or replace a plug that has been malfunctioning for sometime? Easy tasks to master, you think. But take this simple test to find out if your DIY knowledge is up to the mark. What do the different colours of electric wires stand for? Why does one use cotton thread while screwing in a new tap? And what is the first thing you do before you remove a leaking tap for replacement?

Useful tools

There was a time when my uncle moaned for years when someone borrowed his trusted (and rusted) pipe wrench and conveniently forgot to return it. Do you have a pipe wrench or a simple cutting plier at home? The answer is mostly, I bet, no. But searching for a plumber or an electrician on a Sunday will surely make you appreciate their usefulness.

The single biggest reason for the DIY skill meter slipping into the red is the perceived lack of time. Today's work-hard, party-hard lifestyle, it seems, leaves no room for anything else. D. Karthik, an IT professional, is probably a good example of that. He inherited his father's extensive tool set when he passed away but has never even done an audit of them.

"I remember we never used to call someone to our house to fix anything. My father used to do it all. He could fix electric gadgets and do some carpentry and plumbing. He could also patch up cracks in the walls with cement. He used to call people only when something major had to be done. He had the tools for everything. I still have them but I just somehow have never got round to using them."

When I ask him whether he picked up some DIY skills watching his dad, Karthik nods his head but adds: "When I was young I always used to be around him asking this and that, and he used to explain. But today the lack of time is probably the biggest factor that doesn't allow me to fix things myself. You just don't feel like doing anything at all when you return from work."

Part of the joy in DIY is often the spectacular failures accompanying it. That is perhaps another factor in the young preferring hired help. If you want an answer to the last question I asked in the DIY test above, listen to Shanthi Ganesh, a housewife.

Watery tale

"The tap in the kitchen sink was dripping and I was annoyed by the noise, so I asked my husband to get a plumber. But I don't know why, he decided to replace the tap himself. He went bought a tap and borrowed a wrench from a neighbour. He came and removed the tap. I want to hit him on the head for what happened next."

Shanthi's husband had forgotten to turn off the main valve and the kitchen was ankle deep in water before he replaced the tap!

Though it is often said that DIY skills are developed only by trial and error (taking things apart and then figuring out how to put them back), warning number one is that if you do screw up, the cost of fixing your mess will be a lot higher.

Blowing your fuse

Vivek Rajan, an event manager, once tried to fix his blown fuse but ended up burning a lot of wires in his house.

"One evening the fuse just blew and I thought why not fix it. The electrician had left some spare fuse wire after an earlier repair. I decided it was easy to just replace it myself. But I didn't know there was a short circuit somewhere in the house. The second I reinstalled the fuse, there were sparks and there was a burning smell in the house. Then the electrician told me all the junctions in the wiring had burned from excess load."

But to hardcore practitioners of DIY, the motivation is the "joy" they get from it. And according to Vivek's colleague Prem Kumar, it has another advantage too.

"If you know the basics, then it is easy to follow the work that an electrician or plumber does. Basically you will not get cheated. If you know what is what, people won't try to rip you off. But mostly I try to fix everything myself, I feel independent. I used to even service my old bike, a RX 100, but I sold that one and I prefer to service my new bike at the service centre."

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