Dark Times

Kolkata was a different place then,it seems. A city of accepting romantics who would use these electricity-less hours to bond with people around,and not of grumpy couch potatoes,whining about missing out on their favourite television series. “Come to think of it,power cuts impart some valuable lessons. We learn to be less dependent on technology and take notice of things around. I remember how my mother would have these long adda sessions with other ladies of our neighbourhood aunties back then,when power cuts were a way of life. Nowadays,she is glued to the television and is extremely irritated if anything interrupts her unhealthy love affair with the television,” says Sambuddha Chaudhuri,a medical student with Midnapore Medical College.

Kolkata was also a city of star gazers,it seems. “Power Cuts were time for us to push our books away and run to the terrace. In my Lake Place home,I would rush to the terrace with my cousins,lie on our backs and star gaze. Without all the light pollution,the sky appeared clearer and it would be easy for us to spot our favourite constellations,” says actor Trina Neelina Banerjee.

Somehow,the heat and the humidity didn’t seem to bother any of them. “Actually,for kids it was just an excuse to have fun. It was also the time for games,food and ghosts stories,” adds Sen. Food too was a part of this regular evening carnival.

“After a hectic session of hide and seek,we would be famished and would rush to the puchkawallahs. Later,we would gather around a lantern,sharing food,secrets and ghost stories,” says Tollywood actor,Hiran.

And when the lights came back,there would be exultations of joy,of course,and disappointment too at times. “If we were in the middle of a game,and the lights came back,it meant going back to the studies,” says Hiran.