Monday, August 28, 2006

Blackout Blues or Bliss?

‘I SOOO miss load-shedding, you know!!’ Yup! Of all the absurd things that one can imagine someone to say, that little statement would definitely top MY list. Or at least, it did until I gave it some serious thought. That comment was made by a friend of mine, Rohena, doing her undergrad in the U.S.

At first I found her comment absurd. I mean how can one miss load-shedding?!! It’s SUCH a pain!!!

I mean picture this…You’re watching an awesome movie or a TV show, and they’re just at the precipice of the climatic scene….or you’re working on a report or case study which is due early next morning…like say 8:00 a.m. (yea, the faculty is just like Meryl Streep’s character from the movie ‘The Devil Wears Prada’)….right around that time everything shuts down….bam! The only comment that can encompass ALL your frustrations, irritation and general bad malaise at that exact moment is ‘Arrrrrrggghhhhhh!!!!’

But then while brainstorming about a copy for an ad with my colleagues, it just suddenly came to me…the thought that there ARE certain great things that go with load-shedding.

Since nearly all the modern entrapments of our life generally become obsolete during a blackout, suddenly everyone in the apartment or house veer towards a single room…usually the living space or the biggest veranda around…and by the flickering candlelight or, if your charge light’s still working then by its white light, you have an impromptu get-together… ‘So..how was your day?’ or ‘Hey! Wanna have a game of Ludo or Life or Scrabble?’ You share jokes and viewpoints, laugh at new and happening things. In short, you family gels…for a brief moment in time. And somehow because everything around you is silent…no hum of the AC or fan or anything…every other sound of nature…the cree-cree of the crickets, the rustle of the tree leaves in the breeze, the distant sound of a rickshaw bell…is beautifully enhanced.

I guess when it comes down to the crux of the matter…everything in life…has a positive side. My father recently jumped the ‘IPS’ bandwagon…and so even when we do have blackouts there’s still electricity…so we remain in our respective rooms, behind closed doors…literally as well as figuratively.

So the next time there’s a blackout…take the time out…think about all those people like Rohena who no longer faces load-shedding but misses its quirks. Do without the IPS’s so-called favor. And have your own impromptu family gathering for a brief moment in time.

5 comments:

Ashique Rupam Mahmood said...

hi there. Nice blogging.

ভালো বলেছো।

Black out is like unwanted breaks. It seems we enjoy our unwanted breaks very much.

You can blog me around if you like. By the way, bangla dekha jay to ?

Tahmid Munaz said...

"Aha ki anondo Akashe Batashe..
jokhon Electricity chole gese..

Tumi aar ami..
esho Bhalo bashi...
sharadine sheshe
ghorer ondhokare..

Nijeder kisu shomoy
nijerai pass kori.. :p "

chora ta kemon holo jani na.. but hotat fazlami mathay ashlo tai likhe fellam :)
Electricity chole gele to bhaloi mone hoy? specially for couples i think :p

But singles? Oh! No!! Cell e charge dite hoto.... No Man!! Ekhon call receive korte parbo na.. Sh*t!

lolz

Anonymous said...

hmm you miss it? That is like the strangest thing I've heard since I saw the hydrophobic sands. I thought "missing" and "load-shedding" doesn't co-relate..well, I guess to err is indeed human :)

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... While the social aspects of loadshedding definitely has it's merits I somehow can't relate to the birds and the bees and the trees bit. In DHAKA??? The pollution killed all the crickets and other bugs, except for mosquitos and cockroaches and those are rather silent until they buzz by your ear or fly in your face (then you hear human screams.

Rustling of trees? I'm the proud owner of a 30 year old mango tree and Kathal tree, neither of which bear any fruit, but I like the idea of having large trees in Dhaka. It's a rare luxury. However There's no wind in Dhaka thanks to all the high rises. No rustling of trees anywhere.

Saif

simz said...

:D am a lil lucky.. live near a lake..2 lakes in fact...and there's a wide expanse of field as well..dot in the midst of dhaka city.. whheee.. lol