The washing machine was spinning. The ceiling fans were whirring. And my husband’s music was blasting. Then all of a sudden. Nothing. Silence. There was no power.
Living in Mumbai, we’re blessed with a 24 hour power supply, guaranteed. So, when there’s a power outage there’s definitely something up. It didn’t take too long to find out what.
A man from Reliance Energy had dug a hole right near our house. Without warning, he’d dug up the cable and cut it. To perform some maintenance works apparently. He was in the middle of repairing the cable when we discovered him.
When will it be fixed? “In about one hour.”
© 2011, Diary of a White Indian Housewife. All rights reserved. Do not copy and reproduce text or images without permission.
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Haha, at least he didn’t say ‘give me two minutes’
We heard that phrase a lot, sort of standard instead of give me a moment
Ha-ha. My husband and I always joke about the ’2 minute’ thing.
I so very like your blog… The way you depict the true colors of Mumbai, and the way of life here!!
My Yatra Diary…
Thanks so much Arti!
So you never ever get power cuts?
It’s ridiculous how many power cuts we get in Hyderabad. It’s one of my BIGGEST issues with this city. In the summer we get a 2 hour mandatory power cut and they are rolling throughout the city. So usually for our colony it’s at 10am then at 2pm…in the 45 degree heat.
We’re planning to buy an inverter this year, because when the power suddenly goes off at night (has happened too many times) all of us wake up, including my 17 month old daughter, who can sleep in that heat?! In the winter the power doesn’t go off as frequently but usually at least twice a week, sometimes for 5 minutes and sometimes for an hour or longer. It is the MOST annoying thing about living here, that is for sure!! I’ve met people from other parts of India, who never really deal with power cuts…lucky them!
No never, thankfully. Mumbai city is provided with guaranteed power supply, even through summer. Of course, we’re charged for it, especially if the power company has to buy extra power in from elsewhere. But in contrast, just outside the city limits, there’s 4-5 hours load shedding a day, as standard. Ah India. When I lived in Kerala, there was load shedding from 9am to 5 pm when it wasn’t the tourist season!!!
We do have power cuts in Mumbai…Not technically Mumbai but on the outskirts i.e beyond Thane. They have to endure 3- 4 hrs of power cuts during the summer so that Mumbaiites can sleep in peace without a power cut. Yet there is no respite from paying heavy duty electricity bills A very biased situation but true!
Guaranteed? That’s craziness, but beauty!!
We’re not that far from you; Nerul, Navi Mumbai. We get periodic power outages…sometimes for less than an hour, once for over ten hours. The worst was when it was out for over eight hours and the lifts (elevators) ran out of battery back up. We had to climb 12 flights of stairs, with a week’s worth of groceries AND items we bought at a craft fair, all in one trip. There was no one around to ask/pay to help us.
Wait, that dude cut the power without letting the residents know about the maintenance in advance? Assuming that’s the case from what I have read, if a 24-hour power supply was guaranteed, this incident could justify a potential lawsuit against the Reliance Energy group. Think about the losses incurred by private firms during that abrupt cut in power. You are a true de facto citizen of India, Sharell. You expose retards. And you should sue Ambani! Right now!
@Adi
Yeah, lets bring on the revolution against the corrupt folks, against inefficiency or lack of organization, rich folks/firms taking things for granted, etc stuff…something like the revolution that happened recently in Tunisia and happening at Egypt (presumably triggered by a Facebook post)…Whaddya say? ………..Yes, we can!
Lol. My neighbour who also works from home was very enraged! He was demanding justice and has posted the photo all over the internet. My husband shouted at the workman, and his reply was “this is how we do it”. (It’s like this only.
) I would start a law suit, but knowing how slow the courts are here, I’ll probably be dead before I get my hands on Ambani’s money and his big house!
Yeah, sadly that’s true. A better judicial system would greatly benefit the world’s biggest democracy. But hey, it could have been worse. The Reliance Group is a private provider. Imagine that a state-owned company, run by corrupt bureaucrats, controls your power supply; and you sue the state itself for restitution. It is like asking for justice from the people who just deceived you.
Sue Ambani or Tata for an occasional outage of power and do absolutely nothing about 0.8 billion people for whom any electricity is like a blessing from God!
Hmmm……I wonder if our friend here groomed himself for the photoshoot.
and i think he just one-upped you on the moustache sharell.
Hehehe, it’s a damn fine one isn’t it. And look at that lovely shine to his hair too!
I just can’t compete!
India we can expect anything anyday…when things are going well they could suddenly take a strange twist. When I was living in Mumbai , I once woke up in morning to find my small house on ground floor to be filled with white smoke..for a moment I didn’t know what it was, thought is it a fire?, I rushed out of the house and then saw the municipalty guy spraying the mosquito repellent thing/smoke!
Oh yeah, the mosquito fogging operation. It gets me every time!! I always think, what’s that noise?? And then comes the smoke!!
Ummm, sound travels much faster than smoke! Hope next time you see a light first which travels fastest
“sound travels much faster than smoke”
@Amit
You have enlightened me, Mr.OneStone (Einstein). Now I know why I hear the sound of the fart, before it stinks!
No, noisy farts don’t stink unless your digestion system is an Indian trashcan. Physics can’t be applied to Biology, especially to the biological processes of an Indian trashcan.
Mumbai insulates everyone from the Indian reality in many aspects. One of them is uninterrupted power supply which is absent in most places in India. In Coimbatore (where my daughter lives) power is shut down from 5.00 am to 7.00 am every day. So having continuous power supply is an exception rather than the rule in India.
During monsoon, power could go off in Mumbai suburbs (which are supplied by State Electricity Board) at any time of day or night. Though the Board employees do work hard to resume power at the earliest ( I have seen this personally ) nothing can be predicted. It is common to see large power cables connecting power to buildings lying over the ground as a result of such repairs.
India has a long way to go before it gives it citizens what is commonly accepted in many other countries.
You have installed a solar-water-heater on your terrace, right ?
That way, you are guaranteed of being able to take a warm shower, electricity or not.
Also, you will be using less electricity, less global-warming, etc.
Our water tank is on our terrace, yes.
That’s good enough in hot Mumbai weather…
Ha ha ha, it sounds so much like India. The man cutting your cable without saying anything before. And it would take an hour to repair it. No excuses, no sorry no nothing. Just it. Simply. Raw. Raw India.