A 100-year-old mechanic shop at Begum Bazar in Hyderabad

 

The shop, as I noticed, had no name. The shop, as I soon discovered, however, had considerable fame.

I stopped almost immediately when I noticed it. It caught my eye. My attention. It was for such things that I had a fascination.

It was a two-wheeler mechanic's shop. So that should not arouse anybody's interest. It was, after all, a mechanic's shop, as I mentioned. Yet the very look of it fascinated me. A man inside the one-room shop was repairing a bike. He was sitting in the centre of the small shop and was engrossed in putting a bike back into shape.

That should not be an unusual sight to be drawn to. But I was not only drawn to it, I stood in front of it for a while and looked at it thoughtfully. To me, it was a piece of art. A complete piece of art. The look was unique. On its walls were parts of the bikes that they repaired. To me, there was beauty in it. I saw it not as a mechanic's shop but as an art gallery. The entire shop as a piece of art.

"Can I take a photograph of the shop?" I asked one of the men sitting outside. "Why do you want to take a picture?" he asked. "I simply love the look of it," I answered. He understood. He had met many people like me. Many people had requested the same thing.

"Even foreigners on a visit to the Old City stop their vehicles and ask if they can take pictures at our shop," Syed Miran Hussain told me. I could understand why.

"My grandfather used to repair the buggies that the Nizam had," Hussain volunteered. "Like the ones at Chowmahalla Palace?" I enquired. "Exactly," Iqbal, who was repairing a Royal Enfield bike in the shop, responded. "Why don't you sit?" he asked. There was a stool and I sat with them.

The shop, as Syed Miran Hussain explained to me, was more than 100 years old. At the shop, they repair only Royal Enfield bikes. They also repair classic bikes such as Norton. He mentioned some more names.

"How is it that your shop, which is so popular as you say, has no name?" I asked, taking the liberty of putting the question to Hussain.

"It is commonly referred to as 'Royal Enfield Begum Bazar'," he said. Otherwise, it used to be called the "Popular" mechanic shop. They still stick to that name for official purposes.

Much as the very look of the shop was interesting, and the two brothers even more interesting to talk to, there was more about the family that fascinated me. There are, according to Hussain, at least 50 members of their family involved solely in repairing classic bikes. They have shops at a few other places too, although this is the main one.

If one were to come looking for this shop, it is possible that one may miss it. "That hotel has also been there for a long time. So if anyone is asking for our shop, we say it is opposite that hotel," Hussain said.

None of the family members have taken up any other jobs or shown interest in other professions. Their only passion is repairing classic bikes. Iqbal wanted to see how the picture I took with them looked. He liked it.