24 hour Puncture Service

This was one of the posts I was planning to write since almost a year. Just saw one such number in one of my friends phonebook and thought of writing it now.

Way back in 2006 May or June, there comes a person to our office asking people to become a member of a service his company provides. The service being, In case our vehicle got punctured anywhere in India @ any hour of the day, they would come to us within half an hour(be it any location) after we call them, cure the puncture, (for a reasonable amount, say 20 Rs I guess per puncture, I don't remember). Registration would charge 100 bucks.

Many of our collegues opted for it so did Jagga. I didn't go for it since I don't own a vehicle. We thought it is a plan to subscribe. He gave him a visiting card and disappeared.

It was Cricket World cup ODI 2007 I guess. Myself and Jagga were heading our way back home after a day's job. We left our office by 11. Was a tiresome day. As you would hardly find any traffic at that hour, we were at hebbal flyover by 11:30 when the misfortune started.

We just climbed down the flyover to the side of Yelahanka. I was terrified by the shaking of bike handle. It was vibrating @ 6 Hz per second. Hehe! Sorry to bring in frequencies. I was wondering why Jagga was doing this when suddenly a car passed through us and Jagga was striving hard to find a balance. Those were the days when the Bellary road was under construction and the brige kinda thing you get just after the flyover was narrow and it was a two way where it is one way now.

He somehow got some balance and brought the vehicle to a haltjust near the bridge(Where now many Dagaars stand). We just found that the bike's front tyre was punctured.

I should mention Jagga's memory. He recollected that he had opted for the afore mentioned service almost instantaneously since we got to know that we had a flat tyre.

He called the number which he found on the visiting card given by the agent of the puncture service. There were two numbers on it of which both were not answering any calls. We tried some 5-10 times to find the same reply. He was furious. Was complaining about the service and was mentioning about lodging a complaint to the consumer court( Which he didn't do!)

It was 3 kilometers from my house. We dragged the bike on the flat tyre till Kodigehalli meanwhile Jagga had called one of his friend Resalath who joined us in Kodige halli. On our way we were searching for a puncture shop at that hour. You hardly get them. We searched in petrol bunks which were closed by 11 o' clock. They suggested some places which were like mirages in the desert. We spent almost 1/2 an hour to search for the shops when I suggested him to park the vehicle in my house and go home with Resalath.

Well it was 12 when we reached my home after all the fuss. Resalath took Jagga home and the next morning, my father had got some mechanic to get the vehicle repaired.

So, just think as many times as possible when joining any such service. Join only if you are confident.

Hope Jagga writes his experience on this episode in his blog or in the comments section of this post.

=)