Saturday, April 07, 2007

Lights, Action... Cut!

Visits to the dentist can usually be characterised as
a) painful
b) very painful
c) painful beyond description.

Yet, today, the word that came to mind was quite the opposite. Comical is when you hold up a laltain-like emergency lamp a few metres from your face, so that dentistji can see the cavity in your mouth. And attempt to fill it in.

All because the electricity got cut 15 minutes ahead of schedule - at 11.15 am. Luckily, we'd finished the drilling bit or I'd have been hanging around half-excavated, till 3.45 pm when the MSEB deigned to restore power to Vashi.

It sucks. Absolutely, completely, horrendously. At first we had cuts from 7.30-10.30 am. Bad, but you got used to it and life went on.

Now, the timing has been changed - and from 3 hours, we're upto 4. Make that four and a half. Sales of inverters have shot up - fan ke bina to koi scene hi nahin hai. But what about life in general? What about hospitals, shops, offices... And why just New Bombay and other areas technically outside, or on the outskirts of Mumbai??

Far enough from Mantralaya and the homes of Godrej-Ambani-Birla to not stir the powers that be into action.

Further down, in the rest of Maharashtra, there are 8 hour power cuts, 12 hour power cuts. Maybe the hours they get power should be counted instead of the time they don't!

I am angry. We are all angry. But we know not what can be done...

A really long and hot summer lies ahead. There seems to be no option but to plan your life around what you can't change. My dentist had better go nau-se-baarah - not in the am but pm.


16 comments:

  1. If you live in an appartment block with a terrace, consider putting a proposal before the society for placing solar pannels. They are expensive but they are a long term solution. They reduce your electricity bills substantially and ofset the initial one of costs.

    Here in OZ the energy companies give you electricity credits for excess solar energy that your house generates and doesnt use. That excess solar energy is then tapped into by their grid and you get paid for it.

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  2. samir's suggestion make sense..

    on the other hand think about the indian villages which do not have electricity for 8 hours..

    forget about indian villages, jammu city(my hometown) capital of the state has a 9 hour powercut every day..

    here in china it is impressive to see 0 powercut inspite such huge population and hmongous power consumption and this is despite all the corruption existing in china too..

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  3. i am not trying to be a flamebaith, but i fail to see why everyone is getting so worked up about power cuts in mumbai ? all other parts of the country have massive powercuts, including the capital delhi.

    the power which the government is purchasing from other states means that people from those states will have to make do with power cuts, since we do not have a situation where we have surplus power. why do mumbaikars feel they are entitled to have 24hour power, even at the expense of causing discomfort to ppl in other parts of the country ?

    i am from delhi and have become used to powercuts. with the powercut comes a feeling of helpness and weird sense of freedom (coz there is nothing do), but its not the end of the world!

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  4. New Bombay main power cuts?
    Reallu? Kabhi se?

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  5. New Bombay main power cuts?
    Reallu? Kabhi se?

    I thought they were selling it like a city at par with developed world...

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  6. so Bombay is finally experiencing power cuts as well!!

    Let me take a typical indian attitude-rejoice in the misery of others and feel better about my own life...;p

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  7. 8 hours power cut in Bombay!
    Quite painful, I think progress wheel has started moving backward in Big cities.

    Situation is better in remote villages in UP where dead power wires are used to hang clothes to dry. There, they don't complain about no power rather are thankful for providing hangers. :) They are so addicted to powerless life that they need power no more.

    I think someone in MSEB has got the trick that if you can't provide them power make them enjoy life without it. :p

    -Nishant

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  8. A Coward (slashdot reader? ;) )

    Bombay used to pride itself on not having power issues. But poor planning in the last ten years has resulted in this situation, much like it happened in the NCR (projected demand for 2010 was exceeded in 2006!).

    Rashmi, it is not fair to grudge South Mumbai - the power system this side was exceedingly well planned and is well maintained. It got itself Islanded from the grid a long time ago. It is a shame that the powers-that-be did not do the same for the suburbs since it was overwhelmingly obvious that they were going to mushroom.

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  9. what we need to be aware of are ways in which we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuel based energy solutions. rising affluence levels, increased consumerism, me first attitude etc. will ensure that india's energy needs are only going to increase. maybe its time india invested some of its forex reserves in developing clean tech based energy solutions. might help in the long run.

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  10. The dentist part of the blog reminds me of Ogden Nash who said, "Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,
    But the one that is both is dental".

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  11. HEY
    THE SITUATUION IS THAT IF YOU CANT DO IT THEN DIE. EACH AND EVERY MUMBAIKAR'S ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT, WHAT IS THERE FOR THINKING , MUMBAI SUCH A RICH CITY CAN'T MAKE EXPENDITURE ON WIND MILL, OR ON SOLAR PANEL, THE GOOD WAY OF POWER SAVING. WHY MUMBAI WANT BIG HORDING BANNER IN NIGHT ,TO LOOK CITY DANCING AT NIGHT , IT'S NOT NECESSARY THAT A BANNER USED FOR ADVERTISING NEED LIGHT , EACH AND EVERY PEOPLE CAN SEE THE SAME BANNER AT DAY LIGHT WHICH IS MORE VISIBLE THAN NIGHT, ISN'T IT FOOLISH THING, WHICH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SHORT OF POWER CUT. IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO SAVE IT THAN BE READY FOR POWER CUT, EVEN MORE THAN 65 % OF POPULATION IN INDIA ARE LIVING WITHOUT LIGHT IN POWER SUPPLY THEN WHY WE CAN'T.

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  12. Some of the comments here really make me want to puke! Where in this post has the author suggested that people living in Mumbai are entitled to more power then others? It is a resonable expectation in any country that atleast the metropolitan areas have the least amount of power cuts because of the population density and economic activity in such places and not because "the cityslickers deserve more power"
    What we (all of us in India) are facing is a failure of governance. Failure by the govt. (state and center) to plan and implement measures to increase the power generation capacity of the country. The measures being talked about today (just talked and not acted upon even as yet) like the Iran gas pipeline or nuclear power generation or any other alternative power generation measures should have been implemented and onstream 2/5 years back. It is noteworthy here that some state goverments did a better job than others augmenting their power generation capacity. A shining example here is Gujarat. Most cities and even rural areas in Gujarat state do not face these kind of power cuts. The state govt of maharashtra has done a horrendous job at this. Rather, it hasnt done anything at all except trying to buy power from neighboring states at times of peak demand (like summer months). With the nuclear deal still atleast 10 years away from going onstream, and no other measure in sight even as yet, india sure has a dark future ahead. That some idiots should confuse this issue as "they think they deserve more power" along regionalistic lines is incredibly stupid.

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  13. Too much media attention is nowadays focussed on power cuts in New Mumbai and areas like Mulund and Bhandup. What about areas like Ulhasnagar, Kalyan etc? I live and Ulhasnagar and there is power cut everyday for eight hours. Yesterday it was from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and today it is from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

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  14. Bombay will face a lot of problem with the powercuts many schools offices will face tough times.Only hope then dont start it in Mumbai.

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  15. the powercut situation in ulhasnagar has left me depressed though i live far away from india, the power cut has a very important role in mylife.. i cant get to reach to my people.. everytime i get the reason there is no power so no computer, no network, sometimes even phone go dead and the cell too.. am v depressed

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