Baby, when the lights go out…

Get excited — here’s a bunch of things to keep you from being ‘garmi mein kharab’.

ISLAMABAD:

You’re on your way home after a long, exhausting day at work (or the salon); you walk into your bedroom, switch the air conditioner on and collapse onto your bed, hoping to cool off and rejuvenate after the day’s struggles when suddenly, the soft humming of the AC is no more and you are plunged into dark silence: the power has gone out.

For most of us, power outages are part of our daily lives – as normal as brushing our teeth. But the hotter it gets, the angrier and more frustrated people become. “I get into existential thoughts of despair during power outages,” says Humay, a student.

While some resort to playing cards, reading books or magazines or going for a swim, Tabinda Zuberi, confesses that she plays games on her phone till the battery is dead (BrickBreaker and Angry Birds, anyone?).

Here are some things you can try:

1. For the health conscious, this is the best time to work out. Grab your iPod, turn up the music and go for a jog. Or better yet, work out in your room – you’ll sweat more without the ac and burn more calories

2. If you are a member of a club, go swimming or spend some time with your family and friends over some bakery treats.

3. If you are sitting at home, unleash your creative self! Sketch, paint, write or play the guitar! Ahmed Habib, a renowned artist, believes that venting out on a blank piece of paper with a paint brush in your hand releases all disgruntlement and anger. While painting, he quotes a famous verse “Hum nay har haal mein jeenay ki kasam khai hai (We have vowed to live through everything)!”

4. If you would rather be outdoors, play some badminton, basketball or street cricket with the neighbours. Maybe it’s time to get to know the people living next door (who knows, maybe they have a generator that powers the AC!)

5. Invest in board games. Trivial Pursuit, Risk, Ludo, Scrabble, Cluedo or even Taboo are great options. Most of these games are excellent time killers and some, such as Trivial Pursuit, might just end up increasing your knowledge, so give it a shot.

6. If you are into cooking and experimenting then jump into the kitchen and test your culinary skills. Stir up a strawberry/mango smoothie or some mint margaritas to keep cool. If you are more into desi drinks, then what better than to whip up a chilled glass of lassi?

7. Look up some homemade recipes for masks or stir up some totkas in your kitchen for hair-loss treatment.

8. If nothing seems to work for you, pack some sandwiches and take your loved ones to the lake side or the beach. Enjoy the gorgeous view and treat yourself to kulfi or ice-cream. No matter how much you curse the system, the power is still going to go out and there is nothing you can do about it!

Published In The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2012.