We were eating when those candles were around
Chennai has been treated with a lot of power cuts due to load shedding and I believe it wholly because I definitely don’t doubt that the Indian politicians have used those units for their campaign (yen naa namma oru arasiyalvaadhinga romba nallavanga). So, the only consolation for the power cuts is the inverter which helps in enjoying at least the hot air from the fan which would have been denied if it had not been installed. I was a part of the denied group as inverter was not a part of the agenda after the pay commission was announced. The exclusion was solely due to the reason that the summer had passed its prime then, and power cuts may not feature as frequent as before. Most of them failed to understand that Chennai had 3 seasons namely hot, hotter and hottest compared to the 2 in other parts of the country.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
8.30 pm
It was one of the finest days at Chennai during that summer as there was no power cut the whole day and the people who were right in claiming, the purchase of inverter was not right, did not stay right for long.
It was completely unusual to have a power cut during the night and everyone in the house was fuming which was completely a common consequence of every household. The first thing the electricity board does before repairing the fault would be to keep the receiver of the phone away so that they could save themselves from the fuming public. This move might not only save them from some rotten words but even the ancestors of the employees as people admonish even those poor souls who are resting in peace. Reaching Pepsi Uma from Pepsi Ungal Choice in Sun TV (a live music programme) was also done with considerable ease as compared to the phone lines of the Electricity board. Anyways I tried to reach them with all hope and I could hear something which none in Chennai had ever heard or even heard from somebody about such news. It was definitely a treat to listen and was really enthralling. It definitely brought in more joy and happiness than Ilayaraja’s melody or a Rahmanian Harmony. I felt I was one among the chosen ones of god to get such an experience. cloud nine was not too far when I could hear the phone ring and it was ringing for a minute and nobody picked my call. I could console myself saying that I was fortunate enough to listen to the phone ring.
The house was dark and the search for emergency lamps was on. I never knew such small lamps could command such a lot of importance. The astonishing fact is that none of the lamps lived up to the importance given as one had no battery whereas other had low battery and finally the last one had everything right but there wasn’t a place for good tubes. We were forced to adjust with the lamp which promised light for some time before it started flickering and the effect was no short of a discotheque, if we had been presented with a fast beat and a scantily dressed girl (dressla fashion irukkura ponnu illa ration irukkura ponnu) to rap around. It was past dinner time and the wait for power was finally over and a candle light dinner with more number of people than the number of items on the plate was really enjoyable (the company was enjoyable not the food). Antakshari has been the game introduced to spend a quality time during power cuts and we weren’t indifferent to the game even in the slightest manner. We enjoyed playing the game and had passed 2 hours singing like nightingales. Our voice was too loud that even neighbours expressed their interest to join the game along with us and one or two songs were also contributed by them.
Power supply was a treasure to us as it could dispossess many people of their routines .The inquisitiveness to find out about the possibility of power supply forced my brother and myself to go all the way to the office and find out the time that our house could be brightened. To our surprise, there was a person stationed at the entrance for customer grievances and he informed us that we would get the supply in 30 minutes. We came out of the office happily and our happiness was snapped when we found out that the officer in charge has been saying 30 minutes for the past 2 hours. He was misleading people by his consistent attitude (Inniki oru petchu naalaikki oru petchu kadayadhu, eppodhume ore petchu than).
We understood that we would not receive the power supply that night and I was happy not because I enjoyed dripping myself wet all through but I could prove my point on inverters. Most of them felt what I said was right and spoke as if that was an extraordinary situation and such things could not be provided for. They proved providing for uncertainties were just a part of accounting and not a part of daily life.
It was almost 11pm in the night most of them in the house were moving around like sleeping zombies. Sleep wasn’t distancing itself from us like the power supply and the place of sleep was a million dollar question. One of my cousins who had come from Bangalore to spend the kaanja summer of Chennai suggested that we could go to the terrace and sleep. Only a handful in the world hated to sleep and none of us were a part of such a group. Everyone acknowledged unanimously and were really quick in packing their beds and moving up, to lie in the lap of nature.
Thoongardhu eppidi……… Idhuvum kashtam thaan.
(To be continued……)
Idhuvum Kadandhupogum
Maya
All I Feel 