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.
