There’s light at the end of the tunnel

Think load shedding is the bane of your existence? Think again!.

In the blink of an eye, it brings our lives to a screeching halt. It gives us one more— and a very good— reason to complain about the state of political affairs in our country. It makes us grumble and groan endlessly. Yes, you must have guessed what I am talking about: load shedding. 

Power outages have become so rife that they recently instigated load shedding riots in the country. And yes, the electricity situation improves every now and then but let’s faces it: we all know that the absence of power failures will be short-lived.

Amongst the many problems we face –gas prices, oil prices, terrorism— the most vexing is load shedding. My brother knows it as the time his computer stops working, my mother knows it as the time the blender stops blending and my father as the time the Internet shuts down. And when the lights go out, we all collectively groan in frustration.

But believe it or not, there’s actually an upside to power outages. Call me an optimist, but you just have to look at the silver lining on this bleak cloud if you have to live in Pakistan!

For example, load shedding can actually pave way for some family time! How, you ask? Imagine this scenario: it’s a wonderful Sunday morning and you’re watching TV when all of a sudden, the lights go out. You wail, “Uff, phir sey light chalee gayi (light are out once again).”

Suddenly, your brother comes upstairs from the basement where he had been keenly playing PS3. ‘I was almost on Level 37!’ he says grumpily and drops on the couch with a thud. Your mother comes out of the kitchen, followed by the helpers and whines, “Oho! Abhi to hum nay keema bhi nai pisa! (We haven’t even minced the meat yet)”. With nothing else to do, they also sit on the couch.

Now, your sofa’s gotten pretty crowded by this time and you pinch your brother so he’ll budge a bit to make space. Just then your father, who was asleep in his room, comes out yawning. “Can’t a man nap in peace?” he says in a grouchy tone. He’s about to sit on your sofa when, seeing how crowded it is, he stretches full length on the other one...and promptly falls asleep.

Now, you’re just contemplating how you’ll just sit for the next hour (or two or three) when one of the helpers suggests a game of Ludo. And, presto! Instant family bonding right there! Load shedding isn’t so bad, after all. It can actually be a welcome escape from routine life and just spend some quality time with your family.

Another good aspect of load shedding is that it’s eco-friendly— I know you’re rolling your eyes but it’s actually true! People in the West have one earth hour annually. We have “earth hours” every day and every other hour. Now that’s something to boast! And who knows, if we started advertising load shedding as a way to help save the environment, the Western world just might catch on and follow our trend!

Besides, sweating cleanses your pores. Who needs a facial when you could just cleanse your pores sitting at home? And load shedding is free, so you save on money for an expensive facial.

A widely held idea is that in a world where electronic gadgets have become a staple, load shedding is a nuisance. But is it? No, Of course not! They say necessity is the mother of invention. For instance, one day I was in a rush to go to a friend’s house but, you guessed it, the light was gone. Well, my clothes needed ironing, so you know what my mother did in the face of such dire need? She put the iron on the stove to heat it and thus the job was done. See? In this way, load shedding gets our creative juices flowing.

And it also reminds us that there isn’t an endless supply of non-renewable resources used to produce electricity in this world. Load shedding actually helps people realise that these resources are running out and we need to look towards permanent alternatives like wind and solar energy.

So guys, I know we think that power outages are the bane for our existence. But next time the government pulls the plug on electricity, instead of complaining, just think about all the pros of the situation. Be optimistic for once and look at the bright side of things (pun intended)!

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2012.