Days without the Sorento - Thankyou Michael and KIA

Due to that simple misjudgement I was left without my +KiaMotorsWorldwide #Sorento for over 3 weeks. It was a great opportunity to catch up on some of my reading and forced me into some much-needed walking and so many other benefits that came along with it. 

At the onset I should say I was lucky to be dealing with Michael, a Service Advisor like none other at the Rashidiya workshop of Juma al Majid - KIA Body Shop. After having talked to him over a dozen times and met him at least on two occasions I still could not believe that he was an Arab. He spoke Hindi, Arabic and English with equal fluency and its difficult to figure out which is his native tongue. But this is only the tip of the iceberg, his true brilliance is in the fact that he has integrity. I think I can fairly say that this gentleman has never lied to me in the 3 weeks - a very rare quality indeed (of course I verified this by visiting at off-hours). Whenever I have been able to get him on the phone (yes, I am coming to this aspect), he has satisfied me with responses to ALL my questions. I always put the phone down confident that I am in good hands.

I was not the only one to appreciate his qualities and so I was not the only one who called to talk particularly to Michael - there were many, many more. It soon dawned on me that this person was over-worked and that the entire centre was actually under-staffed (or may be all Kia customers were afraid of not getting the utmost service and so wanted an update a lot more often than appropriate). Either ways, getting this man on the phone was a real Challenge with a capital 'C' !!!!!!!!! For two weeks I satisfied myself with

Michael Inspecting a vehicle.

occasional but very accurate and in-depth updates from him. I learnt of how he negotiated with the various parties (insurance, Kia Motors - Korea, Juma Al Majid workforce) to get the Sorento back on the road, where the roadblock was and what he planned to do to overcome it. Because he had integrity, there was clarity and he soon had my complete trust.

Initially the insurance arranged for a replacement vehicle on hire which helped me prepare for the days without one. I debated on whether to continue the hire but decided against it because I wanted to experience life on foot. Some of my loveliest memories in Dubai have been when I was be-Car (without a car) and this was my opportunity to relive those days.

Tall, tall Sun Flowers

I embraced this new lifestyle and moved around solely in #PublicTransport. I feel I am able to contemplate and plan a lot better when I am walking - specially to and from work. I have never been able to achieve this in the car, nor by arriving early at the destination. I also tried to avoid all dependency on friends and colleagues who offered to drop me to the closest station. Instead of quarreling with drivers on the road, negotiating my way into the traffic and wondering whose right it was to go first I stopped by to appreciate nature that I had never noticed - there were some beautiful spots on the way that had never caught my attention before. 

I probably missed the Sorento the most on a day when friends were to be collected for a small dinner get at home. But even that turned out to be splendid as on the way back from office we agreed to meet at a bus stop. We abandoned the public transport and instead set out on foot. In that 40 minute walk together we learned a lot more about each other than we could ever in the car. It joggled back my school days, back-pack and briefcase memories :) .

As much as I enjoyed this lifestyle I knew I could make it permanent. For any work related trips I had to borrow the other office vehicle that was making logistics a nightmare. Also the weather was not going to be pleasant for long. I will have to do something to get my Sorento back.