Mr. Singh was driving back home after a strenuous day at office in his Fiat Sports hatchback from the Uber-cool bunch of offices in BKC. On his way back to his plush flat in Navi Mumbai, he was contemplating all the weeks that went by in a whiz ever since he moved in from Delhi. The traffic snarls, the sweaty grime of Mumbai nor the unending stream of people who seem to be pouring out from every corner of the road could dampen his spirit as he drove on. His job was new and exciting and occupied a lot of his mind. Also his daughter was looking forward to visiting the new Playtime store which was near his home.
As he drove through Dharavi to catch the Eastern Express highway, from the corner of his eye he noticed someone gesturing at him. He glanced at him and drove on wondering if he was calling out to someone else. As he took the bend in front of the Station, he needed to slow with all the people pouring out onto the road (reminded him of a bunch of cockroaches on the loose!). Suddenly some one thumped his car's hood from the left and shouted something at him. Oh! have i hit him, was his instinctive thought. He could not hear what the man said as his window panes were rolled up. Then another man shouted at him from his right hand side and Singh heard something about some fire and decided to roll down his window. Then the guy ran upto him and said,"your engine is on fire!". So he pulled his car to the side and switched off the engine even as the man encouraged him to switch off.
Suddenly there was a couple of people around the car now saying how his car was on fire and that it was good that he switched off. In the mileu, there appeared a man who seemed to be a mechanic, given his overalls. After some chatter about the fire from all the four corners, the mechanic bid Singh to open his hood while he checked it. Singh opened the hood and the mechanic promptly dove into the car's engine. Singh got out from the drivers seat and went to inspect. The Mechanic asked him to get back to the drivers seat and start the car while he appeared to still inspect the car. Singh went back and started the engine and went back under the hood with the mechanic to have a look at the engine and true to word there seemed to be some sparks emanating from near the alternator. He went promptly went back to switch off the car given the mechanic's instruction.
The mechanic went on to now explain that the alternator was burnt out and that it would be difficult and dangerous to drive on. His option was to change the alternator and that he could do it for him right now. Singh had no option to go ahead with the replacement given that he had to run home and that he couldn't leave the car anywhere near Dharavi. The mechanic showed him a shop from where he would get the alternator and accompanied Singh to buy one and soon enough the alternator was replaced. The old alternator was thrown into the dust with disdain for the damaged it caused already. Singh drove on poorer by few thousand for the both the alternator and the mechanic expenses.
Only when he went to his regular garage the next day to check out the problem, did he realise that he was CONNED!!!
The old alternator was perfectly alright and there was no possibility of fire in his car. When the entire opening the hood and starting the engine charade was on, the mechanic had shifted some of the wires to create a temporary spark near the engine. That was good enough to set the cat amongst the pigeons. And the entire replacement theory kicked in and he lost his money and the old alternator too which was in good condition.
No doubt that the entire bunch of guys pointing out the fire through the 2-3min drive were accomplices.
