Gas Guy 2

In happier days I had penned a piece called “The Gas Guy” in Desktop Doodles. Little did I know at that time that one day the gas-guy would actually become such a sought-after entity. Alas, that day has now come and as we wait wistfully by the door, window or balcony for a glimpse of his arrival, let me dig out the essay from the archives and share it with you once again, dear readers.

Here it is:
Today’s topic is the “Gas Guy”. But before we get ruminating about this unsung, taken-for-granted hero, whom we see lugging gigantic barrels on his shoulder, sometimes climbing up several flights of stairs to deliver door-to-door our most rudimentary requirement, cooking fuel, let us first get over with how we Bengalis often use the word to mean anything from flattery to falsification.

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“Gas deesh na,”, literally “don’t give gas” means “don’t lie” and is a common phrase bandied about usually between friends and peers in which the word takes on a slangish form to delineate an innocuous but insubstantial utterance which would evaporate into thin air under careful scrutiny. “Gas kheyey gechhey”, another kindred usage, literally means “has eaten, drunk or consumed gas”, and translates to mean “fallen for flattery” and is usually used behind a naïve person’s back by friends and peers.
However, no discussion on “gas” or “gash” as many of us Bengalis are wont to pronounce it, can be complete without a mention of our clan’s most oft-repeated, go-to, use of it and that is after a scrumptious meal at a wedding, when we have stuffed ourselves silly and literally bitten off more than we can chew. And that phrase, no gifts for guessing, is the self-explanatory, “gas or gash hoyey gechey”. Loosely meaning “bloated” it has proved a lucrative phrase for a plethora of companies peddling quick-fix solutions to digestive disorders.

To get back to the point of this discussion, let us focus the spotlight on a group of boys and men who work as gas delivery personnel. Often joining the job at the tender age of 18 and retiring forty years later at 58, they go from house to house, flat to flat carrying cylinders containing compressed liquefied petroleum gas or LPG weighing 14 kgs on their shoulders.

“Initially it was difficult and I had to practice quite a lot so that it wouldn’t slip off,” laughs Lalon, who delivers gas in south Calcutta’s Garia area, but he says it is a job and he is grateful to God that he has this work. “Now I’m totally used to it and I can lift this without effort. Look,” he says showing off as he picks up a full barrel and throws it on his shoulders as though it was a bath towel. “See?” He says again smiling.
The empty cylinder itself is heavy. According to experts, “To withstand the high pressure, the cylinders are made of high carbon steel, manganese steel or aluminum alloy.” They warn, however, that unless carefully handled, cylinders could be dangerous and highly inflammable, when full. “Even these steels will not prevent the risk of an explosion if the cylinder is dropped on a hard concrete surface.”

Lalon, and like him his fellow colleagues, are not just gas delivery men. They can also troubleshoot and help fix problems of day-to-day wear and tear like malfunctioning burners or pipes. More importantly, they are also aware of the latest news about the gas delivery service and along with the cylinders, they carry information with them door-to-door. He is like a walking Wikipedia of the system.

“You had better get your LPG connection linked to the Aadhaar number,” he says, informing a consumer of the new regulation and the process. “It is easy. Just go to your nearest LPG dealer between 10 am and 4 pm on any given workday and they will record your biometric details and register your Aadhar number. Do this within the next couple of months or else you may face difficulties doing gas bookings.”

Gas booking by phone, of course, has been the norm for a while now but recently customers have also been provided the option of making payments online. Lalon says that many elderly consumers still prefer to pay by cash. “This is a personal choice. One does not have to do anything that they are not comfortable doing,” he says reassuringly.
Lalon does not pay much heed to discussions on the idea that eventually there will only be pipeline delivery of gas. “I have heard that it happens in different areas but I don’t think it will happen everywhere in Calcutta too soon,” he says, looking a little pensive. He does not want it to happen as it could adversely affect employees like him. But he says he is not worried. “They had said that the subway or Metro rail would take away the jobs of people – drivers of autos, buses, taxis and other transport – but it has not,” he points out.

Last but not least, Lalon says that customers should never be forced to give tip. “I never demand it,” he says. “In fact, I don’t even ask but there are those who give generously while others don’t give anything.
He adds, “Ami gas dee na”. Ironic, that.

(The writer is Editor, Features)