The Day After Yesterday!!

If you have been wondering why I was not active on Facebook, why my phone was unreacheable, why I did not reply to your mails... let me tell you that for the last three days, I was in a land of 'No Electricity - Zero Connectivity'. No, I was not out camping in this cold weather. What I am going to tell you, can be either shocking or amusing or you might just end up sympathizing with me.

Like any other Sunday night, we went to bed complaining about how weekends fly away and the next morning would mark the beginning of another dull week. We had no idea that the days that lay before us were going to be far from being dull and normal. I was anything but sleepy that night. My novel, laptop and iPhone were my companions and all of a sudden they all vanished. A Power-cut!! Soon the iPhone battery also died out. I laid my sleepless head on the pillow and heard the icy wind howling like wild dogs just outside the window.

The winds calmed down but the damage had been done! Any and everything that was exposed to the winds was ice glazed and we were stuck in  dark and cold houses. Needless to say, no electricity meant no light in the house. The gas burners won't ignite, the heating did not work, no internet connectivity and no phones. The outside temperature which was below zero throughout, made the temperature within the house worse. The frozen food items had to kept out in the open to prevent thawing. Candles, match sticks, lighters and flash lights were bought. Several layers of clothing were worn to keep ourselves warm. We had to hop from one restaurant to another, till we could finally find food and seating space for a group of almost 20 people.

Thankfully, some of our friends were not so badly hit by the storm. They had electricity. For these three days, there houses were our 'Warm Zones' and 'Charging Stations'. Days and even nights were spent at their place to beat the cold and darkness. Thanks to Poonam-Animesh, Poonam-Narendra, Seema-Murugesan and Anukriti-Varun for making our lives easier (and fun-filled)  in the hour of need. Had it not been for you guys, we would have literally experienced the Ice-Age!!

This Power Outage was bad indeed but it did help me realize that-
a) Friends are life saviors
b) we are badly dependent on electricity and Internet
c) the phones should be charged at all times.
d) a flash light, a few candles and a box of match sticks should be handy even if your head and heart say that you won't need it.
e) we are better equipped to face power failures in India.
f) I spend a lot of time with my laptop (read 'Internet')
g) Nature is beautiful even in times of adversity. See it to believe it.

I wish, I could have been able to capture the ice covered trees and how they shone in sunlight. It appeared as if the trees were decked up with Christmas lights. Unfortunately, my camera and I failed to capture what our eyes saw.