Venkanna Auto Service

Working at 70, Utharathanda in Vemnoor is where I spend almost all my time at Venkanna Auto Service. It’s a simple setup in the thanda area where I take care of the local tractors and motorcycles. People bring their machines here when they break down in the middle of a job. I don’t have a lot of fancy machines to help me, just my basic tools and what I’ve learned over the years by taking things apart and putting them back together. The space at number 70 is often crowded with half-finished jobs and old spare parts that I keep just in case someone needs a specific bolt or a piece of scrap metal. Vemnoor can be a dusty place, so everything in the shop has a thin layer of grit on it. I usually start work quite early, as soon as there is enough light to see what I am doing. Customers are usually my neighbors or farmers from the nearby fields who can't afford to have their equipment sitting idle for long. We sit and drink tea while I figure out what’s wrong with a carburetor or a clutch. It’s loud and dirty work, and there is always the smell of petrol in the air, but I don't mind it much. I’ve become the person people look for when their transport stops moving. It’s a straightforward life here in Utharathanda, just me and the tools and the engines.