The Power Cut Is Imminent
Dammit, the power cut is coming. You never miss power so much as much as when it’s about to go. I feel like there’s so many things I can do, need to do, but it’s all minutes from slipping away… beep, beep, beep. It’s such a bummer, this rolling three hour cuts. The economy must be taking a serious hit, my personal economy is, at least. The morning is the most productive time for me, can update YAMU, check the Facebook page, cue up blog posts for the day. Instead I just struggle to send out a few mails before the current goes.
What did they say in Great Gatsby, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” That’s what the power cuts do. When the current is cut, you are borne into the past. I sketch things on pieces of paper, but I’m like, ‘now what?’ Any idea leads to questions, for which there are answers online, but I can’t get online (I’m on a desktop). I wonder what I did before, I mean, did questions just go unanswered then. I remember the basement of the Upper Arlington Public Library. I remember Encyclopedia Brittanica, I remember micro-fiche. Nowadays I wouldn’t even know where to start. The Colombo Public Library? Yeah right.
Oh God, it’s coming any time now. I can feel that old familiar trip coming on. There are so many ideas, so many things I could do. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, you know? Boycy says you can rent a generator down the road for Rs. 3,500 a day, pouring in Rs. 1,500 of petrol. That’s what the government does anyways, running fuel based power plants. It’s raining though, one hopes that will help pump up the hydro. This drought is messing up everything, stinking up the canal.
I was brushing my teeth and thinking, if a government loses power, does it lose power? I mean, these are the basic service deliveries that drive people crazy. Before you invented electricity was one thing, but now people and economies are addicted to it. As the universities are on strike, this can’t be a pleasant time for the government, or I guess it wouldn’t be, if Ranil and the Opposition was doing more than just watching these events like the weather, from a verandah.
Anyways, it’s five minutes till nine. I’m going to hit publish and try to get a few gasps of activity out of the way. I have this vain hope that the power won’t go out at all, and I’ll be so grateful and get so much done. We’ll see.
Posted on Friday, August 24th, 2012 in Business, Energy, Sri Lanka.
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I would have no reservation to welcome these terrible power cuts courteously; if it’s only because of the NATURE’s repulsive behavior as described by the medias and our patriotic politicians.
However I personally disagree with that intolerable alleges to the NATURE as it has been very kind of supplying all the must for the continuity of the life, tolerating all the ill-favored activities against it self.
If the responsible authorities are no longer capable of delivering electricity from hydro power and the fuel generators, they should be in a position to reveal their failures and how they expect to overcome the problems to the curious society. Instead of doing so, misleading people by burying the unpleasant truth is undeniably a sign of a broken system.
Therefore I will not be surprised to encounter even awful experiences just because of the senseless decisions made by the system.