Electricity Cut

The recent electricity cuts in Hyderabad has been creating quite a havoc in many people's lives. I am a victim too. With a lot of expectations, I switch on my laptop which has almost zero battery backup, put on my favorite playlist and start getting ready for the day, except that after few minutes, i.e., at 10 AM, there is no electricity and my laptop is on a standby mode. I sigh, shut the lid and play those songs in my head instead!
Worse happens when electricity cut happens at night, especially during sleep hours. The swarm of mosquitoes, somehow seem to be waiting at some corner of the room, waiting for electricity cut to leave me vulnerable without the Good Knight! They seem to attack even more mercilessly than before. And they force me to fight back too and spill blood, most of it being my blood, from their bodies.
But all is not lost. Because it is the absence that makes us realize the importance of that thing. Besides, these electricity cuts can really boost health of our people, especially kids who won't be able to play X-box type games or computer games, or watch TV, not for very long anyways! Moreover, being in the dark, using torch or candlelights to resume one's daily work can be quite exciting, an unexpected uninvited change from the same monotonous life with blinking tubelights and boring bulb lights.
In my childhood, my friends and I used to play Dark Room where the seeker has to find everybody else in the dark room. This game can now be played as Dark House or Dark Building in case of electricity cuts.
If you haven't tried Dialogue in the Dark, I'm sure you must have got enough experience of it by now as you might have sat and eaten your dinner in darkness. But if you haven't, do try. Its quite an interesting experience and you may enjoy using our other senses to fill in for your visual sense. One of my friends shared her experience and reading that I'm definitely trying it out during next electricity cut.

Afraid of Darkness

I wrote this when I was in 12th class, with near zero experience of writing. That day I got bored with sitting on my study table for the whole day, and at night looked outside the window beside my study table. I saw the street outside, with street light shining on it. It reminded me of those days as a kid when I was not even able to walk alone on those lighted streets at night. I started pondering over what I felt while alone, in the dark...


I am afraid of the darkness,
it makes me feel alone.
It has no boundaries, no end marks,
it has no voice, no sound, no tone.

It is just darkness, black black all around,
surrounded by black colour, I feel totally bound.
Like a prisoner, helpless, no way can be found,
unless I get a small hint, a touch or a sound.

It haunts me, to my horror, scares me a lot,
I constantly feel that NOW a hand will touch my shoulder,
and I will jump out of my skin due to fear I have never felt or got,
and on turning my head would encounter a flashing ghostly figure.

As I walk in the darkness which shows no end,
on any sound or movement I can only rely on myself not to shout or yelp.
A ghost follows me, I feel, to catch me or to offend,
when suddenly the place is lighted and I thank for heaven sent help.

But as I start going back with relief and in vain,
I feel a small pain which tells me that my journey had no gain,
As I didn't have any source of light and lost lighting again,
And darkness covered me all around while I stood on the same lane.

The same feeling, same fear, same chillness came back,
I went dry, cold and sweated again, standing at the same place.
Now it won't make sense to repeat the things said above, in any case.