The Working Class Life

4th May, '09

I sit on my couch, pulled outside my front door, with the world illuminated by nothing but moonlight, since there has been no electricity at my place for 8 days now.

In a country where generators are the major source of electricity, a failed generator can shove one's normal, routine life into darkness. Since light is the greatest gift of electricity to mankind, routines need to be rearranged to suit the availability of natural light. Meals, preferably are cooked during the daytime, showers are taken earlier in the day, so one can utilize the cool water before the sun is overhead to make it warm, even one's day begins earlier since sleeping in the heat is not much fun. Appliances dependent on electricity for their functioning like the television, refrigerator, laptop, mobile phones and the microwave become non-existent. Instead, neighbours walk over to each other's houses to convey messages, and impromptu gatherings become the pastime of the day. Clothes are hand-washed and sun-dried giving them a strange freshness, and food is always freshly cooked for storage is impossible. The evenings are filled with the sound of chatter and community dinners in candle light. Finally the day ends with rubbing oneself with insect-repellent and sleeping under the stars, gazing at a world bathed in moonlight.

Of course, this kind of a lifestyle has its disadvantages. For one, warm beer can taste awful. Also, it's not much fun writing when all you can see is the battery of your laptop blinking at you threatening to go off at any moment. But neither of these problems are exactly daunting. There are alternatives for both. But there are other problems that a situation like this brings which have no alternatives except finding a place that has electricity, like charging one's laptop and phone from time to time for use and of course the availability of internet.

Yet, these 8 days have been quite an experience, one that I had never imagined coming my way, to my doorstep. It has shown me a side of life whose glimpses I have seen many a time, in road-side dwellings and ghettos, even in the movies, but one that I maybe would've never known for myself otherwise.