Power Cut.

When I get time, I read quite a few of my friends' blogs, even my friends' friend's blogs! And after I wrote this blog, I realized that it was terribly cliched! I mean this is the kind of incident which most people would love to narrate on their blogspots! Infact, when I was talking to a good friend of mine about the power cut after I had written this, he told me that I ought to blog about it! When I first started blogging, I had an idea of what I hoped to do through this exercise of writing. I wanted to dabble with literature. I wanted to try different kinds of articles, serious ones, humourous ones, ones expounding theories backed by reasons, ones based on frivolous feminism, even fairytales! I guess that with this blog, I can add one more to the list....the cliched one!

This morning, I woke up earlier than usual. I was woken up, rather! Without the constant hum of the fans, everything else sounded louder, even my roommates' discussion in the other room on whose turn it was to throw the trash! I looked up, bleary eyed, at my clock which showed an unquestionably blank display. My mobile phone showed that I had indeed woken up earlier than I had intended. But my growling stomach did not seem to think so! By then, my sleep fuzzy brain had vaguely registered the fact that there was a power cut. And yet, the full impact of this situation did not strike me until much later.

I dragged myself to the bathroom and automatically flicked the light switch on. The room remained dark. I reminded myself that the light switches are pretty useless without electricity! With great difficulty, I finished up in the bathroom and went to the kitchen. My day remains incomplete if I dont start it with a cup of warm milk. So, I poured out some milk from the fridge, noting that it wasnt functioning. I stopped in mid step on my way to the microwave, realizing that I couldnt use that either. It struck me much later that I could have heated the milk on the stove. But at that time it seemed to me that I had no option but to make do with cold milk. I took the cup with me into the living room and as is my usual habit, turned my laptop on. For a couple of seconds, I was surprised to see that it was running on battery. It took another 10 seconds for me to figure out why the wireless connection was unavailable! It took me less time to realize that it was useless to search for the TV's remote. I shook my head, smiled to myself and shut my laptop off.

As I was sitting on the couch and sipping the milk, I thought back to the innumerable power cuts back at home and it brought a wave of nostalgia. When we were quite young, my sister and I used to spend summer vacations at our grandparents' place. At that time, "load sheddings" were quite prevalant. During those nights, we all used to gather in the living room, where my grandmom would light a single candle and we would just talk. (Ofcourse, at that time, emergency lamps werent thought to be necessary!) My uncle would get very inspired and start singing! My sister and I used to think the world of his voice and would ask him to sing our favourite songs! Sometimes, we would just sit quietly and stare at the flame. There was something comforting in the thought that hundreds, even thousands of people were probably doing the same. People would peep out of their balconies and strike up conversations with neighbours they had not seen in days. Power cuts somehow seemed to have a strangely unifying effect. I never thought of it this way before, but now, it all seems so romantic! Was life really this simple back then?

This morning's experience was hardly romantic! It made me realize that there are so many things that we just take for granted. The United States is a country abundant in resources. Well, even if they lack the resources they need, they make sure they get it by hook or by crook! Paper is dispensible; the innumerable posters and flyers lying around without any use stand testimony to the blatant disregrad for a natural resource. Gas guzzling cars are more popular than they ought to be. If the cost for electricity and water were included in the rent for an apartment, there is no urge to conserve either of them! Conservation is a concept alient to most people here. I would observe all this and shake my head but it took a power cut to remind me of the ideals I grew up with. This morning reminded me that perhaps, I haven't forgotten "home".