Sunday, February 26, 2006

power failure

A shrill beep on my computer told me there was a power failure. Don’t know what happened suddenly.we hadn’t had this problem for months now.I looked at my watch.9 p.m.Damn, I knew my text was going to be auto-saved, but heck, it was a ‘power failure’ which meant I could neither work at my comp nor charge my cell phone nor battle with my sis for the remote. whats more, it was night time-and I was terrified at the thought of battling mosquitoes. Besides,I had a terrible headache.

I heaved myself out of my chair and stepped out of the room. mom appeared, carrying a candle in typical noorie style.man,it was hot in here. I was still in my pyjamas, nevertheless, stepped out of the house, a grumbling sis and restless bro in tow.my neighbours,just like me, were getting used to the darkness around, calling for candles. Within a few minutes, the whole colony was in their front yards.

Parents discussed stocks and shares, kids and routine problems for a while, soon gave up. I swatted imaginary flies, not knowing what else to do. It was like having withdrawal symptoms.gosh,I realized I was battling an addiction to technology!

The kiddos, not being the ones to sit still, soon got down to business. Away from the video games, they struggled to come up with games. Within a quarter of an hour, truth or dare, hide and seek, ring-a ring-a roses, donkey, antakshari….all began in different places.

Although we tried to keep a show of maturity, the youth brigade, including me couldn’t resist this gaiety for long. Soon I was skipping, hopping, screaming gleefully all around the place…a couple of guys brought tender coconuts from nowhere and the atmosphere was pretty much like a bonfire party.mimicry, singing,it was like a talent show! And many of us hardly knew each other before, we were neighbors in name only.now, one lady even found a far relative!

The night was alive with its special sounds, pure and unadulterated, rejoicing at the opportunity .the air, it seemed was cleansing itself of all the toxins. My headache had disappeared mysteriously. I lay down in granny’s lap in the moonlight, looking skyward. Breathing deeply, I thought, with a pang, how much fun I was having here. it was like I had time traveled to a decade back.hell,I hadn’t talked to my own parents properly for a long while now. The poem, leisure was in my head. After a long time, we were all feeling really, really happy.
A sudden noise told us power was restored. Blinking, we got up to get back within the four walls. Everyone was sighing in disappointment. It was sheer reluctance to go back to that artificial world. But it was inevitable.
As we walked back into the house at midnight, something in each of us wished for one more power cut the next day! It sure looked like a medicine we needed.

20 Comments:

Blogger cherubic_chipmunk said...

Somtimes the most ill reverred things can turn out 2 b a real blessing...Hope none of us succumb in de battle against technology-coz de world has many such innocent pleasures 2 offer which i truly believe every citizen of mother earth must enjoy.
Fantastic post-do come up wid a lot more lik dis.take care...

Monday, 27 February, 2006  
Blogger radiohead said...

Hmmm ...

PUsh the IC up ..

Wednesday, 01 March, 2006  
Blogger Shashi Iyer said...

nice post :)

Wednesday, 01 March, 2006  
Blogger Madhu B G said...

a very nice post....
Reminds of the days we used to have powercut in the night... I used sit in the frontyard with my parents, sometimes sleeping on my mom's lap... Talking abt loadsa things...
But today its different... There hardly is a powercut.. And even if there is, theres a inverter(UPS) at home...
Wonder if my children will ever get to enjoy the powercuts, like i did during my childhood....
An awesome post i must say

Thursday, 02 March, 2006  
Blogger peevsie said...

hudugi nin maathukathe with the power dept nyapka bantha

Thursday, 02 March, 2006  
Blogger Tony Sebastian said...

yup....like u said WH Davies summed it up perfectly
"its a queer life if full of care we hv no time to stand and stare..."
nice one...
btw i jus said hi to my roomie frm a chat window!!
:D

Thursday, 02 March, 2006  
Blogger Kartik Kannan said...

Dear Gupta,


I am Kartik Kannan at Sulekha.com (www.Sulekha.com), one of the biggest online communities worldwide bringing together millions of Indians in over 100 countries. Sulekha, may I add is also a global platform for vibrant creative expression where thousands of writers, photographers and artists contribute, share, connect and interact every single day!



I had the opportunity to read your latest blog post. I found it really fascinating, and so would anybody at Sulekha. Which brings me to an offer I would like to make to you to substantially increase your blog’s readership and popularity.
By creating a parallel blog on Sulekha Blogs, you can dramatically boost the number of people viewing your posts, commenting on them and connecting with each other. All you need to do is give us your approval (Reply to this mail with a YES) so that we can feed your blog posts via RSS into your customized blog page on Sulekha
Sulekha Blogs provides services that most blog sites do, and then some. Please do explore Sulekha Blogs (blogs.sulekha.com) and discover how you can connect with perhaps the biggest Indian blogging group anywhere in the world.



I eagerly look forward to seeing you on Sulekha!



Kartik Kannan
Team Sulekha
I blog at www.katchucrap.blogspot.com
http://kartik.sulekha.com

Tuesday, 07 March, 2006  
Blogger Ajay said...

I get pissed off when there is a power cut... We r totally dependent on power...
anyways LOL
nice read

Wednesday, 08 March, 2006  
Blogger the Monk said...

I know...we had real fun in Trivandrum when our colony was flooded and we had to move out...4 families in a single house for a couple of days..total masti...of course, that was 10 years back...

Friday, 10 March, 2006  
Blogger the Monk said...

I know...we had real fun in Trivandrum when our colony was flooded and we had to move out...4 families in a single house for a couple of days..total masti...of course, that was 10 years back...

Friday, 10 March, 2006  
Blogger the Monk said...

I know...we had real fun in Trivandrum when our colony was flooded and we had to move out...4 families in a single house for a couple of days..total masti...of course, that was 10 years back...

Friday, 10 March, 2006  
Blogger Tony Sebastian said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Saturday, 18 March, 2006  
Blogger Keshi said...

**It sure looked like a medicine we needed.


sometimes we all need different kinds of cuts/shortages to realise what we really need :) Good one!


Keshi.

Monday, 20 March, 2006  
Blogger Sudarshan said...

You're right lol..the moment there's a power cut..I get hyper lol..I start cursing the power company..:-) We're totally dependant on some things..sigh!!

Thursday, 23 March, 2006  
Blogger chandrakumar said...

well u really have a flair in writing
ur colony seems to be a really cozy
one we dont have such luck ,but still i enjoy much better in hostel as we start telling ghost stories n stuff during black outs .
nice post

Tuesday, 28 March, 2006  
Blogger Jayanth Madhav Barki said...

Hey! Miss B'lore powercuts like hell! It used to be the balcony and all leftover cold drink on the fridge! And cold leftover food! Wowie! BTW What happened to all those promises of uninterrupted power?

Tuesday, 28 March, 2006  
Blogger Rajarshi Mukherjee said...

Excellent post. Cant agree more with you on that. Every time I'm faced with power cuts at night, my initial reaction is always irksome, but every time it invariably turns to a longing that the power-cut stays for some more time. (Your post has kind of inspired me to write my experience through one power-cut. I'll wait for the next one, i suppose!)

Monday, 17 April, 2006  
Blogger xtremely_insane said...

chipmunk,yeah we all hope so :)
priya,ur free to quote and gloat!
anuj :)
shashi,thank u.
madhu,nostalgia? :)
di,yeah i had fun...a lot of fun ;)
tony,good job! :D

Sunday, 30 July, 2006  
Blogger xtremely_insane said...

spectre, well it just happened...felt real good. :)

ajay,to each his own.ur welcome.

monk, enjoy reminiscing!

keshi,thanx!

sudarshan,yeah we are a lil dependent..sigh!

ck,
spooky fun :D sounds good,should try this next time..

Sunday, 30 July, 2006  
Blogger xtremely_insane said...

jayanth,knowing our haal,how could u ask that question?

priya, coming lady hold on!

rajarshi,will read ur story :)

Sunday, 30 July, 2006  

Post a Comment

<< Home