As usual, Karan wakes up by 6, to the rays of light peeping
through the windowsill. The birds are chirping away, and a gentle breeze is
blowing through the room. Before settling down into his Yoga routine, Karan
checks his messages. "100 plus from the community group? Are they still talking
about door delivery throughout the night? I thought that it was put to rest
by the sane advice of the society management". To his surprise it is about
power outage, something that had disrupted his life more than once.
May 1993, Kanchan Bagh, Hyderabad: Karan is in Kendriya Vidyalaya, writing IIT entrance. It’s a hot afternoon and a lot is riding on Maths paper. It’s his favorite subject and he is brimming with confidence. Power goes out and there's no backup. Sweat is flowing through his brow and with hanky in one hand, he tries to solve the differential equation. The odds are stacked against him and he knows that.
Karan goes home and tells his parents" I am not going to stay in India. These hot summers and power outages are sapping my energy and diminishing my potential."
June 2012: Karan is back to Hyderabad after spending 15 years in North America and once again its summertime. Of course, circumstances have changed, and Karan says to himself " I will get a good job and live in a gated community that has power back up. Hopefully I can get a job in Bangalore which has relatively mild summers". While continuing job search, Karan joins Gandhi Gyan Mandir in Koti. Thanks to rigorous yoga practice and a change in attitude, he manages to adjust to the summers and grabs the first job that comes his way. It isn't in Bangalore or Hyderabad but an even extreme place weather wise, Noida.
June 2015, Noida. "You guys woke up so late today", Karan asks his friends. Pat comes the reply, "There was no power and AC doesn't work on backup so we couldn’t sleep". Karan says to himself " It took 2 decades before I could exorcise the demons. I can now relish the pleasure of sleeping with windows open”.
May 1993, Kanchan Bagh, Hyderabad: Karan is in Kendriya Vidyalaya, writing IIT entrance. It’s a hot afternoon and a lot is riding on Maths paper. It’s his favorite subject and he is brimming with confidence. Power goes out and there's no backup. Sweat is flowing through his brow and with hanky in one hand, he tries to solve the differential equation. The odds are stacked against him and he knows that.
Karan goes home and tells his parents" I am not going to stay in India. These hot summers and power outages are sapping my energy and diminishing my potential."
June 2012: Karan is back to Hyderabad after spending 15 years in North America and once again its summertime. Of course, circumstances have changed, and Karan says to himself " I will get a good job and live in a gated community that has power back up. Hopefully I can get a job in Bangalore which has relatively mild summers". While continuing job search, Karan joins Gandhi Gyan Mandir in Koti. Thanks to rigorous yoga practice and a change in attitude, he manages to adjust to the summers and grabs the first job that comes his way. It isn't in Bangalore or Hyderabad but an even extreme place weather wise, Noida.
June 2015, Noida. "You guys woke up so late today", Karan asks his friends. Pat comes the reply, "There was no power and AC doesn't work on backup so we couldn’t sleep". Karan says to himself " It took 2 decades before I could exorcise the demons. I can now relish the pleasure of sleeping with windows open”.
It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon and Karan is surprised to see a
flood of messages on the community group. Everyone is talking about the exorbitant
electricity bills they have received. Karan is pleasantly surprised to see his,
and chuckles “Keeping windows open also saves money”
