Sayeed Basha cannot afford to miss a single call. If you have locked yourself into our out of your car or home and can’t find your keys, 42-year-old Sayeed is your man to the rescue.
Functioning out of a makeshift stall near RTC complex, Sayeed has been making keys for the last 25 years. ‘Duplicate keys’ written on worn-out board announces his occupation. On a rickety old board lie his tools- a key-cutting machine and a number of hammers and chisels. With these on his side, he can access any car, bike, locker or home. “There are a lot of companies that claim that their keys cannot be duplicated. Do not fall for this, there is no key that I cannot duplicate,” proudly declares Sayeed.
He learnt the art of carving keys from his father who has a stall at Poorna Market. A grade-10 pass, Sayeed initially worked as a daily-wage labourer. But decided to join his dad when he found he was not making much money. Though he spent his childhood days accompanying his father to the stall and watching him make keys, he says he learnt the art only when he was 22 years old.
“While my father still runs the stall at Poorna Market, I decided to set up my business here because 25 years ago this was the busiest junction in the city. Areas like Seethammadhara or MVP Colony that are now thriving market places weren’t so populated back then,” he says.
Recalling the earlier days, Sayeed says that in a day he would see almost 15-20 customers. This has now gone down to hardly five customers a day. “Ten years ago, there were hardly four or five keymakers in this area; that number has now gone up to 30-35. This will obviously reduce the business,” he shrugs.
The third generation locksmith is a frequent visitor to the police station. The police summon him and other keymakers every time there is a theft that involves duplicate keys. “The profession is quite dangerous since the keys we make can give you access to any place. There have been several instances where people have tried to get me to make keys from impressions on soap, or photographs, etc. I refuse to make keys for these suspicious people,” he says.
- The largest collection of keys belongs to Lisa Large and consists of 3,604 keys as of 2013. It took her two years to collect and catalogue the collection.
Even for house visits, Sayeed claims that he cross-checks the identity of the customer with either the watchman or neighbours. “With so many years in the profession, I can observe a person’s body language and guess if they are genuine or not,” he claims.
Sayeed doing what he does best
Traditionally, the method for key making was tiresome as Sayeed had to spend long time hunched over the board chiselling out the right curves. Key-cutting machines have changed that. It works like a photocopy device which makes copies of the original key. “If you have the original key, a duplicate can be made instantly. However, without the original key, the new key has to be chiselled out, which is time consuming. Hence hand-made keys are more expensive than the machine ones,” he explains. The cost of making a key can be anywhere between ₹40 to ₹1500. He says, the most expensive ones are keys for car as the vehicles have very sensitive sensors. Hence they have to be made to perfection which means more expense and time is spent on it. Sayeed considers his profession no less than art, still he says he does not want his two children to follow him. “I want my kids to complete their studies take up respectable jobs. There is no money in this profession.”