ChinmayC Blog

Power supply in the state of Assam presently cannot just be said as erratic, it is atrocious. It cannot just be said as load shedding, because in load shedding there is a method. This is madness that has no method. It is raging across the state, although more tellingly in lower and central Assam where rains have been scanty over the last two months and people are faced with oppressively humid heat conditions. The sky remains cloudy and no rain falls eventually, not even welcome winds blow across. If you are inside you sweat on with a severe kind of consistency. If you are out you are almost roasted alive. Those who can afford an inverter still sweat at the thought of how to charge that relief-giving unit, because for that you need power. Evenings are even worse because gleeful swarms of mosquitos add to your dark sticky woes. Small time operators who depend on their desktops for the daily bread are finding it hard to survive. Power supply comes for five minutes and goes nuts for 2-3 h...

After the unprecedented power crisis in Assam in May, 2012 things have limped back to normal by now. But that 'normal' is not quite normal thanks to the most frequent and prolonged power cuts still plaguing most small towns and rural areas. If you ask someone how many times the power goes in his/her locality/town you are likely to get the answer 'Power comes sometimes!' The gap between demand and supply is still huge due to some obscure reasons. In the conditions of heat most humid almost all from the top to the lowest bracket or almost all who can afford or ill-afford have gone for the inverters. In the concrete mess of houses it is humanly impossible to survive in the roasting heat inside. But even in the 'inverted' homes there is a problem. The inverter battery needs to be recharged for continuous electricity supply and with expansive power cuts that does not happen most often. Therefore, even the inverted home syndrome remains a 'heated' issue!