BANNER CREDITS: RITUPARNA CHATTERJEE
A woman with the potential to make it big. It is not that she cannot: she simply will not.
PHOTO CREDITS: ANIESHA BRAHMA
The closest anyone has come to being an adopted daughter.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Electricity, rain, and all that

So here I am, sitting peacefully on a Sunday afternoon, bothering no one, idly flipping television channels on my way to glory. With Housefull 2, Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Mohabbatein playing on different channels, I was almost leaping with excitement at having to hook on to till the Champions Trophy match got underway.

But then, it started raining. Throughout the history of mankind, from the days of yore, even before AK Hangal was born, rain has always been synonymous to coffee.

A steaming mug of coffee in hand. Shah Rukh Khan being wooed by a guitar-playing Katrina Kaif on a busy London street, running to save Anushka Sharma from stepping on a land-mine, and singing some sort of Punjabi song while throwing stones on a river.

Can life get better than this? I approached the electric kettle that has been synonymous to my life over the past few days.

The telltale click (or tich, or whick, or pip, or tibh, or whatever you call the sound) happened.

Over the years Delhi has been conquered,  plundered, rebuilt, and goodness-knows-what more often than all the other metros put together. The city that runs on huge houses, suave cars, lethal guns, rajma and pneer,  and corruption, has always succumbed to one, and exactly one aspect of life over centuries.

Power.

Obviously, with great power comes great power-cuts.

Which meant no Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Worse, no Champion's Trophy. Worst, NO COFFEE.

I waited. And waited. And waited. And called the caretaker of the apartment complex.

Note: My Hindi, as my acquaintances are aware of, is exactly not what you call classical. However, I do manage to communicate successfully with the locals here, so I guess it's passable. I will, for the benefits of mankind, narrate the conversation in English.

Abhishek: There is no power.
Caretaker: I know.
Abhishek: You do? Will you please tell me why? (I didn't really use the word 'please'; this is just a false image of mine that I'm putting up for my readers)
Caretaker: Yes. They have disconnected the line.
Abhishek: Who is this 'they'?
Caretaker: The Electric Supply Office (or someone equally powerful; NCR is all about power)
Abhishek: Why?
Caretaker: Because it's raining.
Abhishek: So what?
Caretaker: Don't you get it? It's raining!
Abhishek: I know it's raining, so what?
Caretaker (exasperated): How can you have an electricity connection when it's raining? What if the transformers burst? What if there is a fire? What if someone dies? Will you take responsibility?
Abhishek: Er...
Caretaker: They will fix the line when the rain ceases.
Abhishek: What if it doesn't?
Caretaker: Then you'll have to wait. Everyone is aware of this. You're surprised because you're new here.

I guess I really have missed something when I was forming a basic idea regarding the facilities a large city should provide, especially in 2013. Especially if it's a national capital.

Gone are the days when I had been craving for rain. Give me back those dry Sun-baked days when the power bars on my cellphone and laptop were perpetually on the maximum-mark.

Take away this rain. Give me back the electricity. Go away, Nature. Give me back my Technology.

This is Abhishek Mukherjee signing off here, with the inverter providing a back-up for only a light and a fan. I will have lunch, but my laptop and cellphone batteries are dying out, and there is only so much back-up that an inverter can provide.

If you do not hear from me over a long period of time you probably know the reason. Time is running out. I guess I will just manage to finish this blog post and let you know. And then look for a candle in the incessant rain, making my way through random buffaloes in an NCR alley on a Sunday.

Will someone send me a mug of coffee? Please?

52 comments:

  1. My childhood was spent in a small mining town named Barbil, in Odisha. According to Maa, "gaacher paata norlei, current niye naaye". I guess there is not much difference between the capital of the country and Barbil. :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not about compulsive power-cuts. It's about the authority disconnecting the line themselves. :(

      Delete
  2. Same here in Bangalore... brishti holei current chole jae... antoto ei ekta jinis niye ami konodin Kolkata r ninde korbo na!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. সত্যিই প্রাণ যায় লোকের, লোডশেডিং হলে, আগুন লেগে? :O

      Delete
  3. Groan, that sure is painful. Oh, how I love Kolkata.

    Anyway, here is some coffee. *coffee*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yet another reason why I love the city, yes.

      And thanks for rubbing salt to the wound. X(

      Delete
  4. You may cry all you want over this bijli thing.All i know is you've been writing more posts since you came to Delhi.
    I'm not complaining.
    PS-the power-less times are when your mind can cogitate and masticate to come up with great posts.Take you to childhood,when there were minimum diversions.
    Clearly you miss the silver lining in this darkness with no electricity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obviously I'm writing more posts, but that's despite, not because.

      Also, my mind cogitates all the while, and I take frequent visits to my childhood. I do not need phases without electricity for that.

      No matter how hyped this entire concept of nature is, there is no doubting the triumph of technology.

      Give me my city over a mountain or an ocean every day. Hmph.

      Delete
  5. You are in the wrong place in Delhi if there is no power there.When are you coming back to Kolkata?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wasn't Delhi the city that had faced a 'grid failure' or something last year when Kolkata had bailed them out?

      As for the second part, ASAP.

      Delete
  6. ) )
    _( (_
    \. /?
    \ _/
    Here's your cuppa.
    Whatever happened to laptop with battery?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you.

      The rain has stopped, and all is peace with the world. Dogs are barking, buffaloes and mooing, and electricity is back.

      I have also had two cups of strong black coffee. Back to civilisation, finally.

      Delete
  7. Please remember this:
    " I will, for the benefits of mankind, narrate the conversation in English"(Mukherjee,16/6/2013)
    Mankind stands to benefit in every post of yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I repeat, I write everything in the language I think. Always.

      Delete
  8. Electricity is a national problem.
    I almost choked on my tea picturing you amidst buffaloes holding a candle...very similar.

    ReplyDelete
  9. sob'i bujhlam....tomar songe sympathise'o korchi...kintu tomake brishti'r modhye mombati niye gali'te keno ghurte hobe seta bujhlam na

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. মোমবাতি কিনে তো হেঁটেই ফিরতে হবে! :O

      Delete
  10. OK I did not realize this was possible. Are you really in Delhi or some little village near Delhi which otherwise looks so advanced that it passes off as Delhi?

    You seem to suggest that you posted at the time of power cut. Do you get internet despite a power cut? Do you have one of those usb mobile things?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Technically I'm in Gurgaon - the Singapore of India. And yes, I had been using one of those 'USB mobile things'.

      Delete
    2. Hmph.You are in the pious land of guru dronacharya-land gifted by pandavas.And here,rather than considering yourself blessed,you choose to rant.Hmph Hmph.
      http://www.jatland.com/home/Gurgaon

      Delete
    3. OK ... so before defaming Delhi, you should have said that you are staying in some gaon and expect the amenities of cities. :)

      Disclaimer: Now unlike Bombay, I have no connection with Delhi. Have not been there more than a few days at a stretch to meet up with people and see the city.

      Delete
    4. I know I'm in the Dronacharya land. But thank you for the URL.

      Delete
    5. My apologies. I actually stay in a Gaon. But they claim that NCR is one big city.

      Delete
  11. ...moonsoon arrives a fortnight ahead of time and here you sit sulking.Sun or rain,some people are never happy.
    Also,was thinking if you could really hold candles to buffalos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't need the monsoon. I need my electricity back.

      Delete
  12. As always.... flawless ...:) though the situation was not quite ;)... Gurgaon - the Singapore of India, really ???

    Lopa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lopa, try Googling with Gurgaon Singapore of India.

      Delete
  13. Kolkata ke jara phele chole jay, tader eromi hoy. Aro jao. :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. শখ করে তো আসিনি। আর ফিরেও আসব। :(

      Delete
  14. this is one 'power'ful post:) another possible solution for the next time...start singing in the rain...maybe the buffalos will start to dance and the dogs will forget to bark...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is indeed not a bad idea. Dancing buffaloes always make a nice spectacle.

      Delete
  15. lend your ears: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le_IyYLrUtQ

    this is it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. darun na? gaan-er naam "monsoon" kintu kono brishti-badla r bypar nei. Band er naam Tokio Hotel, kintu era keui Tokyo te baash kore na.

      Delete
    2. খুব মজা না, কাটা ঘায়ে নুনের ছিটে দিতে?

      Delete
  16. Abhishek da I REALLY REALLY wish you had written the convo in the hindi that it happened in. :D

    ReplyDelete
  17. Just sitting with a steaming mug of coffee to read your post.I spent my childhood and youth with the same monsoon blues with power cuts and (to be a bit mean) remember the same 'blues' 'reds' and 'green' before Brakeshwar opened up for WB:). Well written,well reflected. Candles and buffaloes do sound a bit of burlesque,but:D:D:D. Loved-'Obviously, with great power comes great power-cuts.'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't rub it in. As for the power-cuts in West Bengal, they happened in the 1980s and early 1990s. Certainly not in the 21st century. And I certainly cannot remember the authorities cutting off the power intentionally during the rain.

      Delete
  18. Mumbai-bashing and Delhi-bashing done.
    Now go to Cheenai only.
    Your love for kolkata will take you places.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nah. If you are a diligent reader of my blog, you'll find that my Kolkata-bashing peeps in every now and then.

      Delete
    2. oh that's understandable.Familiarity breeds contempt.

      Delete
  19. I can only hope that the power is back by now!

    Enjoy the semis. And seriously - did you enjoy "Jab Tak Hai Jaan"? In that case, why don't you also see "Aisha" while you're at it...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't see it eventually. The power went off just as things were warming up.

      I need to see Aisha I guess.

      Delete
  20. Firstly thank you for teaching me this method
    r laed khabo na comment korar byapare
    also i told u already, can't stop smiling even now - "with great power comes great powercuts"
    however don't agree with tech>nature
    Also, cudnt help bt picture u on a buffalo with a candle (from some ex comment) and added a pagdi also ... even that's hugely enjoyable

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Had you been in my place you would perhaps have agreed on the 'technology>nature' bit. And thank you for the first comment on my blog.

      Delete

Followers