Cool Cooler

When one of our brothers was shifted out of Gurugram, he handed over his used Cooler, a room cooling machine that runs in the pricniple of converting water into vapour and cooling down the room temperature. The Cooler was purcahsed when he first shifted to New Delhi in 2004. That cooler has been a blessing to our family during summer. It has generated a good amount of cool air to cool the room temperature down. We have been using that for over eight yeasrs in addition to the brother who already used it for another eight yeras. Despite its oldness, it functions very effectively. What we need is a cooler that really works as a cooler. 

A few years ago, I changed the water pump, and last week it broke down as it had an issue with the motor. Initially, I thought it was time to discard it and buy a new one. But on second thought, I looked out for a mechanic to repar it. To my surprise, it was repaired for a few hundred rupees only. Then after a few days of use, it broke down again. This time I thought, I really have to buy a new one. In fact, I went to the malls to lookout for a new Cooler. And I identified a particular model to purchase after letting my wife look at it.

When my wife and I had decided to buy one particular Cooler model, the salesman informed us that the piece was already purchased. Later I called up the mechanic who repaired the Cooler motor as I had given him to repair it again, he informed me that he just changed the capacitor and that it works fine now. These two things put together gave me a feeling to withhold the purchasing of a new Cooler and gave a try one final time for the repaired one. So instead of buying a new one, I repaired the old motor and it worked fine.

A day later, the motor broke down again. This time I determined that it was indeed time to discard the old and buy a new Cooler. As I called up the same Mechanic, he told me to bring the entire Cooler and show it to him. Then I thought I would give one more try and then buy a new one. As I went to the Mechanic, it was discovered that there was no problem with the motor at all. Then I realised the actual problem. The Cooler mesh that holds straws for water to pass through was actually blocked because of dust clogging. When the front and backside of the mesh for air to pass through were blocked it affected the motor due to air pressure as there was no air inlet. The solution was to replace the entire front and back blanket of straws. Then I drove around and found a shop that could replace the straw and did the replacement. With this simple change, the Cooler worked perfectly well like a new one. It was brough to its usefulness again.

The thought of buying a new Coller was given up for the third time. By the way, this model was no more to be found, and the design of the Cooler was so good that it functions as an Air Conditioner. As long as it could be used, I would prefer to use it. Not merely for the sake of saving money. Of course, I would not invest money in something that can be avoided. Though the Lord has given us sufficient money to buy a new one, I prefer not to, as long as it is not inevitable.

This simple life experience taught me how to live with the bare minimum and live a simple life, taking care of the basic needs by adjusting whatever can be adjusted. This Cooler is really cool in that it taught us to live a cool and simple life. The breakdown and repair process helped me exercise much even in simple matters; learning to trust the Lord in small things too. What a cool Cooler indeed it has been! And what a cool life to trust in the living Lord for all things small and even minute.