Its become more than normal to have power cuts in Chennai (Tamilnadu) these days. Initially there was about an hour's scheduled power cut, which has increased to two now. They attribute to this to the overall power shortage in the state and they are having to buy power from other states. Apart from the scheduled ones, there are these unexpected cuts which are probably attributed to increased load. With the surging heat this summer, the air-conditioners run non-stop, irrespective of whether its day or night. If any of you are on the lookout of starting a new business, think about selling inverters, they are on high demand.
The situation is worse in the rural areas. They have outages for hours together. By hours together, I mean 10-12 hours.
After a sultry day yesterday, profusely sweating until about 10 pm, I rejoiced on retiring to the comforts of the air-conditioned room, which is when there was a power cut. Obviously I was frustrated. Hoping that it might come up very soon, I lay on bed. In less than 10 minutes I was sweating badly, and there were no signs of the return of power supply. Being very tired, I tried to sleep, but it was so hot that I couldn't.
I went to the balcony and luckily there was some breeze outside(I stopped sweating), and I sat there along with dad, waiting. It was about 11.30 pm then. There is a slum dwelling just opposite the house and I sat watching the happenings there. Visibly, most of the people were sleeping outside their houses. I could see a lot of them not even fully asleep, they were restless, owing to the heat, bugs, bad odour from garbage bins, there could be many more reasons. Lot of kids were cranky and I also saw a lady taking her kid for a walk as he couldn't sleep. And here I was, sitting in the comforts of home and brooding over a power cut, failing to enjoy the breeze even.
I felt ashamed of myself. Even though I have more than what is necessary for basic living, I still think that I will be happy only if I have something else. And this "something else" is always never ending. As I saw the trees swaying in front of me and the breeze hitting my face, I thought I should probably start enjoying the whole thing and make myself happy, rather than cribbing and feeling miserable. And believe me, it felt really good. We played some music and sat there enjoying the night.
It was 12.45 am when the power returned and I went to bed with no hard feelings.
P.S. - I started writing this post this morning and there has been 4 hrs of power cut since then.
The situation is worse in the rural areas. They have outages for hours together. By hours together, I mean 10-12 hours.
After a sultry day yesterday, profusely sweating until about 10 pm, I rejoiced on retiring to the comforts of the air-conditioned room, which is when there was a power cut. Obviously I was frustrated. Hoping that it might come up very soon, I lay on bed. In less than 10 minutes I was sweating badly, and there were no signs of the return of power supply. Being very tired, I tried to sleep, but it was so hot that I couldn't.
I went to the balcony and luckily there was some breeze outside(I stopped sweating), and I sat there along with dad, waiting. It was about 11.30 pm then. There is a slum dwelling just opposite the house and I sat watching the happenings there. Visibly, most of the people were sleeping outside their houses. I could see a lot of them not even fully asleep, they were restless, owing to the heat, bugs, bad odour from garbage bins, there could be many more reasons. Lot of kids were cranky and I also saw a lady taking her kid for a walk as he couldn't sleep. And here I was, sitting in the comforts of home and brooding over a power cut, failing to enjoy the breeze even.
I felt ashamed of myself. Even though I have more than what is necessary for basic living, I still think that I will be happy only if I have something else. And this "something else" is always never ending. As I saw the trees swaying in front of me and the breeze hitting my face, I thought I should probably start enjoying the whole thing and make myself happy, rather than cribbing and feeling miserable. And believe me, it felt really good. We played some music and sat there enjoying the night.
It was 12.45 am when the power returned and I went to bed with no hard feelings.
P.S. - I started writing this post this morning and there has been 4 hrs of power cut since then.
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