Vijayan taught himself the profession by learning on the job
KOCHI
Vijayan T.K. is seated on a low stool, bent over work, at his repair shop at Kaloor. He is trying to fix a battery-operated toy car that has seen better days. His workshop is a colourful jumble of electronic toys in various stages of repair – ride-on cars, bikes and remote-controlled helicopters. In addition are his tools – boxes of nuts, bolts, batteries and springs, bottles of polish and rolls of tape. For the past 14 years, Mr. Vijayan has been giving new life to broken toys at the workshop, which he calls Shalom Toys.
Known as the toy repairman, Mr. Vijayan gets customers, including students working on science projects, from different parts of the city. Many prominent toy stores too seek his help.
Mr. Vijayan, 37, has no formal education or experience with electronics, but recalls taking apart his own toys as a child and reassembling them. “I was curious to know what was on the inside.” He came to Kochi from Kumily, Idukki, and spent his early years in the city picking scrap and struggling to survive. However, he earned a job as a mason and built his own life. But he was still fascinated by toys, and would tinker with small toys bought from roadside vendors.
In the 2000s, when remote-controlled toys were a rage, he would stand outside stores just to see how they worked. The decision to take up toy repair full time came after an experience with a dream toy.
“I bought a remote-controlled helicopter from a mall for ₹3,000, which I had saved. While checking it out, the copter hit the roof and broke. My spirit was crushed; but I fixed it,” he says. He later repaired a few toys for a shop on Marine Drive, and, impressed by his work, the owner started giving him work and recommending him to others.
Today, Mr. Vijayan is a busy man. His work day starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 1 a.m. Before returning a fixed toy, he takes care to clean it, sometimes even giving it a new coat of polish.
Mr. Vijayan says he never turns down any broken toy, as a child’s hopes rely on him. “Toys are more than mere objects. They form a child’s earliest memories,” he says.
