Powerless Hour

An hour without power. "Earth Hour Saturday 28 March 2009, 8.30pm is that hour when cities and towns across the world will turn off their lights for one hour"

That's something I can certainly do... it will be like reliving one of the power outages that I was so used to while growing up. Mostly, the scheduled outages used to occur in prime summer months. A messenger from the electricity department will send a word around the community (colony as it was called) regarding the timing of the scheduled power outages. It used to last for about an hour. Sometimes they'd even try to squeeze in fifteen minutes before the scheduled begin and another fifteen after the scheduled end. My mom used to joke about the "reliability" of these power cuts, she used to say - call an electrician to fix a broken street light, they never show up... but, if the electricity department was punctual about something it had to be cutting power.

We used to dread the afternoon power cuts, that was the worst form of torture according to me! At nights, these outages were not so bad. The weather usually gets pleasant during late evenings, and with no TV, no lights, we guiltlessly took that time off and do nothing. We would light candles and sit out in the portico, get some fresh air, chat with our neighbors... it was the time for all of us to catch up! Except when I was studying for an exam or had homework to do, I used to sit with my books front of the candle and read / write in earnest.... until I looked up at the wall and saw my shadow... and then get distracted with the size and shape of my nose in the shadow, which reminded me of witch.


I think I will happily switch the lights off this Saturday and may be try to see if the shadow of my nose looks any different now.