Power Cuts!!!

Summer is associated with many things – Heat, Sweat, Cotton Clothes, Mangoes, Juice, Cold water, Vacation (for kids), First rain and with rain comes power cuts.

It’s so stuffy inside the house during summer. We still manage to watch our favorite TV programs with the help of Fans or for luxurious ones, we have ACs. Sometime around 6.30, when there is either a cartoon or a movie coming up, mom is just done preparing some yummy snack, there is a power cut.
Instantly, people in the house scream “Oh no” or “Che” or “S**T” etc in chorus. Probably if you can listen carefully, this happens in all the houses in the neighborhood simultaneously. Everybody starts fanning themselves with the palms, or they grab the day’s newspaper. After a few minutes when the heat is unbearable, one by one they open the front doors and go out near the gate. Slowly, the kids in the neighborhood come out and start playing; the aunties come out with a cup of coffee in their hands. They start of with the conversation

Lady 1: There is so much of power cut these days
Lady 2: Yeah, it’s too hot and stuffy inside
Lady 3: I haven’t finished my cooking. I needed the mixer, now god knows when the power will be back
Lady 4: (showing off) I thought such a thing would happen, so I finished cooking beforehand
Lady 5: I just came back from office and now there is no power, this is unbearable.

All this while, they don’t realize that they are actually socializing, instead of sitting in front of the TV, which hogs all the attention most of the time.

Give them 5 minutes, and then a different set of conversation starts and this time it’s interesting. They are either talking about the corner house, where new tenants moved in or it is about Savithri’s daughter coming late to the house on a bike with a guy or discussion of a new recipe.

The men folk might just prefer to stand near the gates and watch people walking up and down. Very few actually socialize, when they do, its either politics or sports that they catch up on. Not very juicy to overhear what they are talking about.

The kids get together with their tricycles and bicycles and start going up and down the street as if they are chasing a thief. If there is enough light, they would even gets the bat and ball, to start with the gully cricket.

When this hustle bustle is going on, there is a bulb flickering somewhere, signaling that the time for gossip and time pass is getting over. In a few minutes, the road is lit up again. The houses have their tube lights flashing. Everybody, now comfortable in their chat, start back home, with a content of having a nice time during the Power Cut.