Light in the Darkness
What does a blackout teach you?
1) Always have a torch, a candle and some matches at hand.
2) Stock up on appliances that can run on batteries alone.
3) It is impossible not to take electricity for granted. Really.
I speak from experience. For the first time since I got here, it rained. Rained for the whole day. Almost like Singapore weather. A little miserable, a little gloomy. But hey, feels just like home! I had no complains about the rain. Besides the fact that I had put out some laundry to dry. But that’s all right… I can always wash it again…
But you know what happens when it rains in the winter? It gets really really cold. My goodness it was cold. It was so cold whenever Jess and I went up to the roof to take a break from work (yes! I worked today! Cataloging rejected slides..). We were also freezing in the rickshaw on the way back, despite the excitement of sitting in a rickshaw with the canopy up for the first time. Good thing it’s all toasty in my room now.
That’s not all. When it rains and is very cold, everything electrical starts to malfunction. There were three “explosions” at Drik today. Allow me to explain before you overreact.
The transformers are housed within the building. Whenever there is a surge in the voltage, the transformers will kinda make this really loud sound like an explosion, to correct the surge. Reza said that because of these explosions, we were kept safe. And I take his word for it. He also said that not all explosions are good… you know, like the bomb kinds… He was trying to be corny there btw… Pretty pathetic attempt, if you ask me. But he’s my boss, so I dun wanna say more.
Things were a bit worse at Pathshala. The electricity was completely out when Jess and I arrived here. Good thing we both had torches. For the beginning part, we just wandered around Pathshala playing with Noyl and Al Amin. Then, when we wanted to get warm, we went to the kitchen to boil some hot water on the stove and make some hot drinks. We didn’t even have to do a thing! Peter had enough foresight to leave us a kettle of hot water on the stove. So we made our drinks and sat in the kitchen, taking in the warmth and the whole atmosphere around us. It was really nice! All quiet and everything.
Then the lights came on!
We went back to our rooms, thinking everything was back to normal. I left my computer on, rewashed my clothes, and didn’t bother to take a shower or anything. I thought of heating up dinner, and boiling hot water for drinks. But I just assumed that the power would stay on, and went to the computer room, hoping to read my mail, write my blog and download winrar to read a rar file I got from my friend. I even started watching TV. (We get HBO & Star World btw…)
Then the power went out again.
I couldn’t believe it! This time, I didn’t know where my torch was anymore. And I was seriously upset that I had not taken care to savour every bit of electricity that I had enjoyed. Al Amin had to run out and help us buy candles. (It’s actually safer for him to run around the streets on his own at night than it is for any of us grown up girls… Says something about Kid-Power eh?). He even helped me to light it and set it up in my room cos I didn’t have any matches of my own.
Somewhere along the line, I got fed up sitting around in the dark, staring at walls and hoping that the lights would come on. I started clearing up my room with a torch. To entertain myself, and the two kids, I played my guitar, and sang the most apt song for the evening… “Light of the World”…
Lights came on again… And guess what?
I forgot about the matches, still didn’t heat up the food or boil water. I just wanted to relax, thinking that the power can’t possibly go off anymore.
It did.
So it’s true. You really don’t stop taking electricity for granted. Perhaps it comes from living in Singapore all your life, where the only time you get a blackout is like once in a long time. And even then, everyone complains and gets pissed with the power company. I think you’d get pretty hoarse if you tried complaining every time there is a blackout (already happened a few times today) or a power flicker (happens all the time.)
But let me tell you what 3 consecutive blackouts teach you.It Teaches you how to survive without electricity.
You do that by
1) Appreciating the quiet of the dark.
2) Admiring the glow of a single lit candle & listening to its crackle.
3) Being prepared for the next blackout. (The candle is now permanently fixed on my table, with matches next to it, and my torch is right beside me.)
4) Making use of appliances and other things like the guitar, that uses neither batteries nor electricity, as entertainment during the blackout.
5) Saving the battery of the laptop so that you can still write your blog in the midst of a blackout. The notebook & pen is also kept handy.
6) Preparing your things so that you can take advantage of the next power surge to boil hot water, heat up the food in the microwave, and even to take a shower before the hot water runs out. (Note: Internet was not even in the running.)
By living through several blackouts, you start to see things in a different light. (Pun fully intended).Your priorities change. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll see other lights around you. Playing the guitar was a sudden inspiration that came up during the blackout. Al Amin, although unfazed by the blackout, was so excited when I did that. He even took pictures of me, with my torch pointed at me for extra light. (Smart eh?). So, yeah… Even a blackout can be a good thing.
And you can’t even fault me for being optimistic and naïve cos the lights just went out again. =)
1) Always have a torch, a candle and some matches at hand.
2) Stock up on appliances that can run on batteries alone.
3) It is impossible not to take electricity for granted. Really.
I speak from experience. For the first time since I got here, it rained. Rained for the whole day. Almost like Singapore weather. A little miserable, a little gloomy. But hey, feels just like home! I had no complains about the rain. Besides the fact that I had put out some laundry to dry. But that’s all right… I can always wash it again…
But you know what happens when it rains in the winter? It gets really really cold. My goodness it was cold. It was so cold whenever Jess and I went up to the roof to take a break from work (yes! I worked today! Cataloging rejected slides..). We were also freezing in the rickshaw on the way back, despite the excitement of sitting in a rickshaw with the canopy up for the first time. Good thing it’s all toasty in my room now.
That’s not all. When it rains and is very cold, everything electrical starts to malfunction. There were three “explosions” at Drik today. Allow me to explain before you overreact.
The transformers are housed within the building. Whenever there is a surge in the voltage, the transformers will kinda make this really loud sound like an explosion, to correct the surge. Reza said that because of these explosions, we were kept safe. And I take his word for it. He also said that not all explosions are good… you know, like the bomb kinds… He was trying to be corny there btw… Pretty pathetic attempt, if you ask me. But he’s my boss, so I dun wanna say more.
Things were a bit worse at Pathshala. The electricity was completely out when Jess and I arrived here. Good thing we both had torches. For the beginning part, we just wandered around Pathshala playing with Noyl and Al Amin. Then, when we wanted to get warm, we went to the kitchen to boil some hot water on the stove and make some hot drinks. We didn’t even have to do a thing! Peter had enough foresight to leave us a kettle of hot water on the stove. So we made our drinks and sat in the kitchen, taking in the warmth and the whole atmosphere around us. It was really nice! All quiet and everything.
Then the lights came on!
We went back to our rooms, thinking everything was back to normal. I left my computer on, rewashed my clothes, and didn’t bother to take a shower or anything. I thought of heating up dinner, and boiling hot water for drinks. But I just assumed that the power would stay on, and went to the computer room, hoping to read my mail, write my blog and download winrar to read a rar file I got from my friend. I even started watching TV. (We get HBO & Star World btw…)
Then the power went out again.
I couldn’t believe it! This time, I didn’t know where my torch was anymore. And I was seriously upset that I had not taken care to savour every bit of electricity that I had enjoyed. Al Amin had to run out and help us buy candles. (It’s actually safer for him to run around the streets on his own at night than it is for any of us grown up girls… Says something about Kid-Power eh?). He even helped me to light it and set it up in my room cos I didn’t have any matches of my own.
Somewhere along the line, I got fed up sitting around in the dark, staring at walls and hoping that the lights would come on. I started clearing up my room with a torch. To entertain myself, and the two kids, I played my guitar, and sang the most apt song for the evening… “Light of the World”…
Lights came on again… And guess what?
I forgot about the matches, still didn’t heat up the food or boil water. I just wanted to relax, thinking that the power can’t possibly go off anymore.
It did.
So it’s true. You really don’t stop taking electricity for granted. Perhaps it comes from living in Singapore all your life, where the only time you get a blackout is like once in a long time. And even then, everyone complains and gets pissed with the power company. I think you’d get pretty hoarse if you tried complaining every time there is a blackout (already happened a few times today) or a power flicker (happens all the time.)
But let me tell you what 3 consecutive blackouts teach you.It Teaches you how to survive without electricity.
You do that by
1) Appreciating the quiet of the dark.
2) Admiring the glow of a single lit candle & listening to its crackle.
3) Being prepared for the next blackout. (The candle is now permanently fixed on my table, with matches next to it, and my torch is right beside me.)
4) Making use of appliances and other things like the guitar, that uses neither batteries nor electricity, as entertainment during the blackout.
5) Saving the battery of the laptop so that you can still write your blog in the midst of a blackout. The notebook & pen is also kept handy.
6) Preparing your things so that you can take advantage of the next power surge to boil hot water, heat up the food in the microwave, and even to take a shower before the hot water runs out. (Note: Internet was not even in the running.)
By living through several blackouts, you start to see things in a different light. (Pun fully intended).Your priorities change. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll see other lights around you. Playing the guitar was a sudden inspiration that came up during the blackout. Al Amin, although unfazed by the blackout, was so excited when I did that. He even took pictures of me, with my torch pointed at me for extra light. (Smart eh?). So, yeah… Even a blackout can be a good thing.
And you can’t even fault me for being optimistic and naïve cos the lights just went out again. =)
posted by thebemusedphotog @ 11:50 PM
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Have Goan Yo recovered from Darkness
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