Chennaiyil oru iruttu kaalam

The current supply gets cut at odd times in Chennai. It goes whenever you are:

1. Finally comfortable with using the toaster machine, only to eat 2 slices toasted and the other 2 plain.
2. Just about to press ‘ctrl s’ on that all important document for tomorrow’s presentation. (No. UPS is out of order)
3. Watching that brilliant spell of bowling by Shane Warne.
4. Chatting on the Net. With a girl.
5. Sleeping soundly, only to be woken up in a puddle of your own sweat.

Its all the more fun when it goes during nights. Especially the ones which find you as alert as a Pomeranian on caffeine. It is during times like these that your dependency on electricity really hits you.

Gosh! No tv, no pc, no fan, no light… It would get incredibly boring if you don’t have a ‘windows enabled mobile’ ;)

So you try to identify all possible ‘sounds’ that you can hear.

1. Crickets – searching for mates. Its amazing how these guys keep at it all night long ;)
2. Clock ticking – reminding me from time to time that time is indeed moving.
3. Lizards’ one liners – very witty. They actually sound like “wit wit wit wit” :P
4. Trucks rumbling in the distance.
5. Leaves rustling.
6. The crunching of leaves under the feet of an assumably (and hopefully) 4 legged animal.
7. Your own stomach, making weird noises.
8. Your breathing.

But the list IS exhaustive. And the current still hasn’t come.

So you hide somewhere and make the strange “clicking” sounds that those aliens from “Signs” made. And convince your younger brother that “someone” is prowling around the house at the same time. Try it. Great fun to see your otherwise “brave and bossy” younger brother slip out of the room quietly. Its comparable to the moral victory MKG got over the Brits.

Current is still elusive. Its time you spoke to the EB guy, you feel.

“Saar, Besant Nagar area lae current eppo varum?”

“One hour”

“Sure a saar?”

“Yes, sure a two hours”

“Saar?”

“Yes? EB here”

Of course, you are in no mood to entertain his dry humour, especially when you are dripping wet with your sweat. And thats when you hear your brother’s voice (long after the frown he gave you after you “clicked” away to glory) – “Yaay! Lights are back!”

India is at the 7th place in electricity consumption, all over the World. Obviously. If there IS no current then what would we consume?

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