Puncher Shop

Flats are a part of life and I've had my fair share of tyres to change but I've never faced a beast like a Tata Sumo with a woefully deflated front leg. Sonam (our friend and driver in Sikkim) and I, wrestled the spare down from the luggage rack and fought valiantly with a hydraulic jack that seemed hell bent on not working. Finally, after some pulling and pushing that would have easily booked us a berth on some third string gymnastics outfit, it was done. Well, not quite. The replacement seemed as ragged as the original and they both needed some urgent work if we were going to make it to the more glorious environs of North Sikkim. So we stopped at the next 'puncher' shop, where some cute grubby kids and a few weather beaten rubber repairers were more than willing models (except for the guy who was asleep, captured for the great amusement of his friends).