Last week we'd been to my dad's place. A number of things that we'd long wanted to do there were accomplished. And while in the process of ticking off the completed jobs, that were on my slop chit, a group of three had dropped by.
They're professional 'straighteners' of trees that people invariably got done because of the precarious angles that a few trees take to, owing to a variety of reasons. There's a coconut tree in our courtyard that is angled dangerously towards the house but since it gives good yield, I didn't have the heart to cut it off. Any storm can bring it down to disastrous results and I'd been wanting to get it straightened out with stay wires but to get these guys, it's very difficult as they're much in demand and therefore, always on the move and never available when one needs them!
We'd planned our departure to Guruvayur immediately after lunchtime. Therefore, the team's arrival around 11 was not acceptable but on their insistence that their job would take only about 10 minutes, I'd to give in and let them go about their work.
And they went about their job with clinical precision. The exact length of the stay wire, that was required, was estimated through visual survey and the portion cut from the large loop of cable that they're lugging along for the purpose. They went about their work efficiently and after about fifteen minutes, the tree was pulled back - albeit by a few degrees - with the stay wire holding it in its new position, firmly secured to another tree at the corner of the courtyard! It looked neat and they said that they would return a year later for review and further tighten the wire to get the tree into an almost normal position!
Then came the calculations for the amount to be paid. About ten equal lengths of a rope was used up, with each length corresponding to 15 meters. The amount, thus, worked out to be a little over Rs.12 grand as the wire cost Rs.70/- per meter! I must confess that in my rough calculations, somewhere I'd missed out on a zero and had not anticipated such an amount. I'd to sheepishly tell the guys that I didn't have the amount in cash but could give a cheque instead!
But they're magnanimous enough in that they said that they'd collect the balance amount from me later, from Guruvayur, after collecting an advance of Rs.2 grand. The job was accomplished, thus, the following constraints notwithstanding:-
(a) the sudden arrival of the professional straighteners.
(b) the goof up in working out the real estimates and
(c) the time constraints that we had!
Had I known that it would work out to this amount, I'd not have allowed them to embark on the job!
Tailpiece.
Yet another occasion when my 'Math' played truant!
PS.
Another thing that I'd observed....... there was not a length of the steel wire that was wasted or overly drawn!
They're professional 'straighteners' of trees that people invariably got done because of the precarious angles that a few trees take to, owing to a variety of reasons. There's a coconut tree in our courtyard that is angled dangerously towards the house but since it gives good yield, I didn't have the heart to cut it off. Any storm can bring it down to disastrous results and I'd been wanting to get it straightened out with stay wires but to get these guys, it's very difficult as they're much in demand and therefore, always on the move and never available when one needs them!
We'd planned our departure to Guruvayur immediately after lunchtime. Therefore, the team's arrival around 11 was not acceptable but on their insistence that their job would take only about 10 minutes, I'd to give in and let them go about their work.
And they went about their job with clinical precision. The exact length of the stay wire, that was required, was estimated through visual survey and the portion cut from the large loop of cable that they're lugging along for the purpose. They went about their work efficiently and after about fifteen minutes, the tree was pulled back - albeit by a few degrees - with the stay wire holding it in its new position, firmly secured to another tree at the corner of the courtyard! It looked neat and they said that they would return a year later for review and further tighten the wire to get the tree into an almost normal position!
Then came the calculations for the amount to be paid. About ten equal lengths of a rope was used up, with each length corresponding to 15 meters. The amount, thus, worked out to be a little over Rs.12 grand as the wire cost Rs.70/- per meter! I must confess that in my rough calculations, somewhere I'd missed out on a zero and had not anticipated such an amount. I'd to sheepishly tell the guys that I didn't have the amount in cash but could give a cheque instead!
But they're magnanimous enough in that they said that they'd collect the balance amount from me later, from Guruvayur, after collecting an advance of Rs.2 grand. The job was accomplished, thus, the following constraints notwithstanding:-
(a) the sudden arrival of the professional straighteners.
(b) the goof up in working out the real estimates and
(c) the time constraints that we had!
Had I known that it would work out to this amount, I'd not have allowed them to embark on the job!
Tailpiece.
Yet another occasion when my 'Math' played truant!
PS.
Another thing that I'd observed....... there was not a length of the steel wire that was wasted or overly drawn!
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