random old post

Was going through my old blog, and found this post. This incident happened about two years ago, May 07, right around the time when I had gone to Bahrain after my final undergrad exams.

There's some strange, almost divine connection between the Raghunathan family and nights without electricity...we have a way of managing through nights with NO power. No matter which part of the world we are, its something which just finds us...

at around 6 pm yesterday, when Mrs. R and Ms. R (yours truly :D) returned from their evening walk, they see the entrance of their beloved Biljeek building clouded in darkness, implying a power cut, IMPLYING that the main gates won't open...so Mrs. R, worried about the younger Mr.R inside, calls up the house..

Mrs. R: "There's no power, how do we get in? What are u doing alone in the darkness?"
the younger Mr.R: "There is electricity. Wait i'm coming to the main door."

Soon enough, the doors are pushed open by the younger Mr.R and when the three walk into the house, they see just the lobby bulbs burning wayyyyyyyyy too brightly...apparently, none of the bulbs were working and there was a lot of fluctuation happening. Not really bothered too much about the situation, Mrs. R and Ms. R proceed to take their post exercise showers (separately of course)...and in a matter of a few minutes, both the bathrooms have NO light...so amidst a lot of shouting and voltage fluctuations, both the ladies, shower quickly and come out...sure enough, its just the main lobby light which was shining wayyyyyyyy too brightly. Mrs. R then decides to call Bahauddin, the Bangladeshi caretaker of the building.

Mrs. R: "Bahauddin, jaldi aao, bahut electricity fluctuation ho raha hai"

While this conversation was taking place, Ms. R hears a loud noise, which sounds like a tire bursting, and also like the sound the washing machine makes when its done washing the clothes.

Ms. R : I heard something strange...maybe its from outside?"
the younger Mr. R: "THERE'S SMOKE IN THE TV ROOM!!! THE TV'S BURNING!"

Mrs. R (still on the phone with Bahauddin): "BAHAUDDIN, HAMARA TV BURST HO GAYA...JALDI AAO!" (undoubtedly one of my favourite moments of the evening)

Coming back to the smoke in the tv room, sure enough, there's a whole cloud of smoke coming from the back of television and Ms. R and the younger Mr.R quickly turn of all the switches in the house and open the windows in the TV room...Mrs. R meanwhile calls Mr. R and tells him to come home quickly, owing to the crisis situation. Meanwhile only one light is on at the house, which too fluctuates constantly.

So, Mr. R comes and true to his reputation as problem solver, goes out and finds out what the scene is like...he comes back with the news that every house in the building has had some mishap of the TV bursting variety. Later it is discovered that the whole electrical wiring of the building is totally burnt, so the small electricians go after inspecting and promise to send the other more experienced ones soon. It seems as if the night will be long. In the meantime, the one lone light which was bringing some brightness to the house, also goes off...so the house runs on one candle, and two cellphones.
By 9 30 it is decided that both the Mr.R's will go to the embassy to sleep in Mr. R's spacious office room, as the younger Mr. R has to get up at 5 the next morning to go to school. Meanwhile, Mrs. R and Ms. R lie down on the kitchen floor (the only place, apart from the bathrooms of the house, which is NOT carpeted), pillows in tow. The men leave, only to be back in a few minutes saying that apparently the electricians will come soon.

With a brief interruption caused by the ringing of Mr. R's cellphone at 11 pm, Ms. R sleeps off peacefully in the kitchen floor (thus adding further evidence to the theory that she can sleep ANYWHERE) and is woken at 12 30 by the bright tubelight of the kitchen and Mr. R saying that there's a generator at work and we can all sleep peacefully now.

Waking up at 6 30 am the next morning, Ms. R finds out that everything which was plugged in, has been damaged; microwave, refrigerator, two air conditioners, laptop charger, one cell phone charger, cordless phone and of course, the burnt TV. The whole day then proceeds with a bunch of electricians walking in and out of the house, taking fridge, microwave with them and other people coming to inspect the air conditioners...

of course, the funniest joke of the day involved a punjabi electrician and Mr. R.
punjabi electrician, walking into Biljeek building and looking at Mr. R says "Good night sirji."
Mr. R (pausing for a fraction of a second, wondering WHY on earth the electrician was saying good night when he's just come in, then realizing that it was his way of wishing...akin to good morning, good evening) replies back "Good night ji, kaise ho?"...it was one of those, you had to be there moments.

oh what a night....