Candle light

Through a dark and deserted street in kalamassery wafts in familiar Jesudas, Baburaj and Devarajan melodies, sung out of tune but coated with glee. Trace it to reach Abbukka’s house. It is the 45 min load shedding and Abbukka’s family is sitting around the candle light on the veranda, playing antakshari. This is a common scene these days in most houses in Kerala.

How much ever you crib and complain about the daily power cut and the perspiration trickling down your spine, you can’t help but wonder doesn't it bring your family closer?

With no serials and football matches to glue you to the television and no Internet and Facebook to browse on your laptop, this daily blackout helps you connect and bond better. A much needed and routine family time.

It is indeed surprising to find what all half an hour plus of darkness can do!

Hostelites claim to have the most fun. They follow the tradition of howling the minute the lights go out and then huddle in the front yard beneath the starry sky, gossiping and pulling each other’s legs.

It is time to leaf pages soaked in the yellow radiance of a candle, to sing to your heart’s content in the dark and to place those extra cushions in your balcony chairs, to indulge in the 45 min of serenity after the hectic schedules of the day.

We urge the minister not to hamper with the 45 min candle light bonding that we are enjoying and to reintroduce the load shedding at the earliest.

NB: This post is not sponsored by any inverter manufacturers