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| Glory Sasikala |
-Glory Sasikala
Sometimes full, sometimes gone, sometimes not all there
Moon, despite my discomfort, your many moods I bear
Last night, at around midnight, the power went off in my bedroom... Cheepie, my pet duck, is scared of darkness and he is very vocal, the reason I don’t feel lonely at all although I live alone.
“It’s gone! The power is gone! Quack, Quack!”
Right! I switched on the torch in my phone for him and was just deciding to patiently wait for the power to come on when I remembered that the lights in my bedroom had flickered in the evening.
So I looked out the window and found lights burning in all the other towers in the apartment complex. Why do people stay up so late? So many houses had lights on.
And so, I called the Help Desk to confirm power shutdown. He said no, power had not shut down; so, it was only my bedroom. There was power in all other parts of my house. He said he’ll look into it, and I thanked him, and once again, decided to wait. But after a while, I thought I’d better go down and see for myself what the problem was. It was now around 1 am. I took the lift and went down to the gate. The water lorry was there, loading. I asked if the electrician had looked into the problem. No... he was out fixing something else.
The electrician came after a while, and I followed him to the room where all the fuse boxes were. Meanwhile, he got a call from another house in the same tower and floor as mine. Door B. He checked the fuse and found that the fuse for more than 30 houses had burnt out. Why hadn’t I reported the flickering in the evening? I don’t know. Lights flicker sometimes from voltage fluctuations.
He told me to go back home and that he would fix it. He told me to inform the Door B lady. I was so happy downstairs, wandering about late in the night. It’s lovely over here, with trees and benches and people around still... I saw a girl sitting in one of the benches and reading. I wasn’t the only one around...
I took the lift and went back to my floor, but I did not have my spectacles on, so knocked on H instead of B. They were not asleep! Again, why are people not sleeping??
Apologized...I then knocked on B and shared the information. I came back home and made a bed in the living room, and just as I lay down, the power went off for the whole house. I called the Help Desk frantically.
“What’s happening?”
“We’re repairing and have shut down the power. Please wait.”
I said okay and drifted off to sleep.
Just as I was enjoying my sleep, the power came on. Cheepie quacked joyfully, “It’s on, it’s on, it’s on!!!”
“I know. What do you want me to do, go downstairs and give them an award?”
The phone rang, “Is the power on, Ma’am?”
“Yes, but it’s still fluctuating.”
“We’ll fix it in the morning. You’re okay for now.”
“Thank you so much!”
I made my bed again in the bedroom and settled down to sleep once again.
But I was traumatized, and my mind was restless.... Food! I need food! I went into the kitchen and made a very crisp dosa with podi (it’s called idli powder and made out of two lentils and dry chilli) and ghee. I made a cup of tea.
The low bedroom light burned, and Cheepie had fallen asleep. I opened my window and sat there in the darkness, watching the night traffic pass by on the highway. I’m not sure why this excites me so much, but it does.
I’m 60 years old now, and life has become a measure of small happinesses.
I like that the light appears far away on a higher ground. Then, because of the bumps on the road, the vehicle slows down and snakes its way over. I like to try and guess what vehicle it is. It fascinates me that people are out at this hour, especially two wheelers...because this is forest area with trees on both sides and rather scary and lonely. Sometimes, a lot of times, I see very costly cars on the road at this hour...cars you would never guess were there in Chennai. One day, I saw a lovely vintage jalopy go by—red and gold. Like I said, there’s a fascination for you.
Far away, near the city lights, I can see the light of a plane gliding by every so often; the light glides down lower and lower as the plane lands... Then at the same point between two city lights, the plane light disappears.
Power cuts have interfered with my days and schedules and dreams throughout my life. I propose, the Indian Electricity Department disposes. God, I presume, has no say in the matter.
I just woke up...groggy, grumpy. It’s not enough that it’s Monday, but here I am, yet to get my two winks.
La!! I’m just warning you, I don't like Positive Inspirational Thinkers on a miserable Monday morning. Talk low...keep voices low...don’t talk...while I down caffeine and frown at my computer...
***
Bio: Glory Sasikala is a writer, poet and editor and publisher living in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She is the author the ‘Sundays With Glory Sasikala’ series of short stories on Amazon. She is the author of the ‘Glorees Poems’ series on Amazon. She is the Editor and Publisher of GloMag, an International Poetry and Prose Magazine, and she is the administrator of the GloMag Group on Facebook. She is also a published novelist with two novels to her credit: Goodbye Papa (Writers Workshop, Kolkata) and She Spoke In Tongues (Setu Mag).
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