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Power Cuts

Power Cuts are a rarity in Ahmedabad just like liquor stores or gullible women but people in other cities are more than familiar with it. We in Ahmedabad can’t imagine an hour without electricity but most of India has not only learned to cope with it but has grown to love it too.

In my tryst with this city I can recall just one day when a black out swept across my part of the town. It took me half an hour and four unfastened screws later to realize there was nothing wrong with my mobile charger and an actual power outage had occurred.For the next two hours my apartment building became a waxing salon with everyone screaming like hairy customers due to the inconvenience and the heat. The experience wasn’t good for me too as I felt helpless.You see all these tempting things around you like your TV, gaming console,AC,music system but you can’t get your hands on any of them. I felt like I had been punished. That incident left me with an epiphany of how spoiled I had become after coming to Ahmedabad.

                                                                                                                                 In Lucknow Power cuts are a daily occurring and not just a perennial activity like in Ahmedabad.The proud Lucknow Electricity department has taken it upon itself to provide a profane history lesson on life in the Stone Age to its citizens. The whole stretch of a blackout is a period of anarchy for their otherwise disciplined lives .Although the screaming and the yelling might reach the same decibel levels as in Ahmedabad but the emotions behind couldn’t be more different. Housewives catch a break from the kitchens, kids from their homework, men from their office and young from the old. The whole town seems to be having a slumber party of sorts. Although work suffers and people loose time and money,they have no aversion for this darkness because within this darkness lies the little sparks of laughter and friendship which lighten up their life. So in Delhi and Mumbai, where we only check on our neighbors in case of a creeping foul smell , a few power cuts won’t be such a bad idea after all.

Catch me if you can

Trudy was getting late. She had to pick up her son from school, do some grocery shopping for the special dinner her husband was throwing his friends and then there was this other thing. She had to hunt down her next prey so she might get through another month.

                                                                          In the same city,one day later, Inspector Steve slammed the receiver down after it rang again for the twentieth time that day. This was the fifth case of homicide in the last two months in their otherwise crime free city and phones hadn’t stopped ringing. With every passing day the police was getting more and more flak from the media and the people. Demonstrations were being held against them and careers were treading on thin ice .Few had even started questioning their methods and skills but they didn’t know what Steve knew. The pattern in the killings was hard to miss. All the murders had taken place at night. Victims were well built single men in the age bracket 20 -30 who lived alone and far from the nucleus of the city. They were found poisoned and naked in their houses with no sign of a struggle or blood anywhere. Interestingly the T V had been left on in the otherwise suspiciously clean rooms considering they housed bachelors. The forensics had promised a breakthrough with their impending reports but Steve knew better. He knew these were not some impulsive accidents but meticulously planned acts orchestrated by a cerebral killer. Sensing an approaching headache, Steve decided to catch a break and play with his daughter Mira.

        As Mira started acting out the name of a movie of her choice, Steve’s smile began to resurface again. He knew his little angel was going to be a fine actress one day what with the impeccable hand gestures and facial expressions she displayed while playing charades. He had so far guessed that the second word was a dog breed and that the first one was a number connected to their TV as she kept pointing there. It didn’t need much thinking thereafter as he correctly guessed the movie to be 101 Dalmatians with 101 being the channel number on the TV currently. It was then that a fleeting thought hit him. Steve rushed to his study room all the while connecting the dots on the serial killers case. A chill ran down his spine as he realized how the killer had been actually giving them a lead to the date of the next murder through the channel number on the TV screen at the current murder site. No wonder he had left everything untouched and organized while leaving behind this minuscule anomaly as a challenge for them. Steve knew there was no time to waste. Promising a huge surprise for her and her kid brother, Steve left Mira in her bed and rushed to his office. On his way to office, Steve messaged his wife while thinking how the clue had always been right there at the heart of the crime scene but they had never bothered to look. “You go ahead honey, I am on my way home –Trudy”, his loving wife of six years messaged him back.

Drive me mad

Last month i finally took the plunge.I didn't decide to go on a strict dieting regimen or run for president but i did finally gave in to my mothers constant pestering on learning to drive a car.It is remarkable how Indian parents know exactly how to coax their way out of a blatant refusal by just getting sappy and melodramatic. In this particular chapter of her book of maternal triumphs, her winning argument was that there was no one to drive our family to a nearby hospital in case of an health emergency."Is your dad suppose to drive and go through such a back breaking exertion while you jive to "teenage dream" in the back seat ??" pretty much settled the case.                                                                                                                                                                         But i simply hate cars with every fiber of my being.Yes I know they are status symbols,total chick magnets and can make traveling much more comfortable but by there very innate nature, cars are so confined and restraining.The space inside is even less than that in a coffin because in a coffin one can at least stretch their legs completely.And if making you cramp yourself in a slanted dog house wasn't enough, they expect you to drive that thing around at 90-100 km/hr with a fastened petrol tank and an ignition system.So the only way I was willing to endure such horror was if  I was being taken to moon or at least outer space but my sweet little mother hadn't come into the picture by then.
                                                                                                                       So the next week i found myself standing next to an off-white lilliputian Maruti Alto(another one of Almighty's cruel jokes).As my instructor stood there making solemn claims of  turning me into a Michael Schumacher in the next 15 days,I stared at the grim war veteran which i was about to drive in the coming weeks.It muttered a mild protest as its owner shoved the keys in while i looked at the road ahead with disbelief.