"Light has gone out"

 

 LIGHT HAS GONE OUT

Come rains and power cuts follow suit as though the clouds above give out an advance warning to the Electricity Boards to do the needful. While Monsoons are more than welcome after the scorching summers, the lights go out simultaneously and plunge us in sudden darkness. We are so used to the presence of artificial lights round the clock now that even a minute without electricity seems like ages. After all, the dependence on gadgets of every kind come to a standstill and life comes to a grinding halt. As kids, we really looked forward to these escapades as we got an opportunity to get a break from the drudgery of the home work from schools and rush out of the homes for a rendezvous with our friends who too were waiting as eagerly to get out. Kids in the colony would immediately gather and commence their games, hide and seek types as pitch darkness added to the thrill and fun. 

With no emergency lights, Eveready torches were found in all households and we had chimneys, not the kitchen chimneys but small contraption which had a small bowl shaped container filled with kerosene with a wick on top. Kerosene was a controlled item and was available only through Govt approved  ration shops. We also had beautiful looking lamps, we always wondered whether rubbing them would actually result in a genie popping out. My mother took great pains to keep these lamps in serviceable condition and out of our reach. Lights would go out the moment there was a strong breeze even, the power lines were precariously dangling at most places rendering them vulnerable to outages and yes these lamps themselves were like genies lighting up the rooms. Our father's generation swear by the lanterns even today, as that was their primary source of light and they all studied in the same at nights, literally burning the midnight oil.

We stayed in an old independent heritage kind of a palatial bungalow in Dhar, called Hawa Bungalow, aptly named as there was plenty of Hawa (wind) all around. It was actually a College Hostel, where my father was also the Warden, so we had one fourth the premises to ourselves, while three fourths was for Hostel inmates. The building was in the shape of a ship with decks all around which were filled with water for air conditioning effect when the princes came on their shikar. This was supposed to be a hunting lodge in the yesteryears. So like all Govt buildings, this too suffered from poor maintenance and electrical lines were the most delicate part, resulting in frequent outages.

Later in the Academies, lights out provided the juniors much needed relief as activities ceased and we sought refuge in our respective cabins for the much needed rest and recoup. Although this didn't last the whole night, as more often than not an early morning bathroom session was awaiting us to complete the leftover formalities of the previous night. Post commissioning during camps, patrols and posts in field areas  we had to make do with lanterns and petromax till generators became ubiquitous. But the sheer beauty of a pitch dark star spangled night is a magical experience which the present generation unfortunately rarely gets to enjoy. We were indeed blessed to live those moments of bliss with millions of stars for company, recognising various constellations added to the fun. 

But alas the bliss is short-lived  as firstly we all have inverters to keep us lit, even though the gadgets are still off and secondly the interlude too barely lasts a couple of minutes. It is enough to create mayhem in metros as was evident in US of A a couple of years ago in 2003 which resulted in tragic deaths of almost a hundred people. Thankfully we aren’t that badly off, we lose lives even without having to suffer the blackouts.  Blackouts remind us of the war clouds when the sirens would start blaring as a warning for impending air raids and instant blackouts followed. 

"Light has gone out", reminds us of the famous extempore speech by Nehru ji in Parliament after Gandhi ji's assassination on 30th Jan 1948. Yes for a young nation still coming to terms with the horrors of partition, the shock was as though light had actually been snuffed out. But there is always  light at the end of the tunnel!!