Blackout blues

How some families weathered the power outage last Sunday:

by Maneshka Borham

To a majority of Sri Lankans who work Monday through Saturday, Sunday is generally a day of leisure and relaxation. It is a day spent with one's family, perhaps watching television, going out or just staying home to re-energise oneself for the upcoming week.

However, on March 13, this was not to be, with Sri Lanka being hit by a debilitating island-wide power outage that lasted for more than six sweaty, uncomfortable hours, and literally ground the country to a halt. Rising March temperatures that saw the thermostat hover in the high 30 degree Celsius, only made matters worse as the denizens stewed and sweltered in the oppressive heat.

Sunday's power outage was the worst the country, which boast of being the only nation to have continuous supply of electricity in South Asia, has experienced since 1996, when the nation was compelled to live in darkness for several days.

Uncomfortable

People sat outside their homes, bathed in sweat, even as more bad news followed, with the water supply being disrupted in many parts of the country due to the power failure.

So with no electricity and no water what exactly did Sri Lankans do on that uncomfortable, hot, dark and muggy Sunday?

Jumail Ahamed, owner of Sasira Pharmacy in Maradana was at home worrying. Even though his pharmacy was closed on Sunday, he says he was worried about essential medicines such as insulin stored in his refrigerator.

Power outage

"The medicines can keep for around six hours in the refrigerator" he says, adding that he was lucky the power returned before the medicines became unfit for use. However, he says if the power outage had happened on a normal working day, the medicines would not have been safe as they do tend to open the refrigerator constantly, which would have caused the drugs to be spoilt.

Sudesh Jayasekara, father of a 10-month-old baby, did not have a particular good Sunday, especially the baby, who couldn't sleep because of the heat and was already suffering from a heat rash. "She was in terrible discomfort, despite us opening the windows," says Sudesh, who was however luck enough to have a well in their garden, and hence didn't have to face difficulties in obtaining water. Sudesh and his family kept cool by spending time in their car with the AC on, especially when feeding the baby.

The family was also compelled to throw some food way, as it had got spoilt. However, Sudesh deems, the lack of timely information about the power outage and the continuing power cuts, to be the most annoying thing about the whole saga. "Even after the CEB put out a so-called timetable, the interruptions did not happen according to it, at least in our area. That created a lot of confusion" he says.

Manike Sirimanne a seamstress in Udahamulla, who is swamped with orders due to the upcoming Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, says her business ground to a halt when the blackout happened, as she could not operate the machine, since they run on electricity.

"I could not do anything," she says, explaining that usually her husband and son help her with all her work because of the increased workload in March.

All Manike could do last Sunday was sit outside her house with her family and try to find a way to keep cool, both body and temper. "We kept chairs outside as it was more airy than inside our house, which is adjacent to the railway, and we waited the power failure out," she says.

Manike says the constant power cuts are hampering her work, and adds hopefully, "I will have to work extra hard now in order to finish these orders and I hope there will be no power cuts going forward."

Extra work hours

Shazna Hameed, a public relations executive was at work, despite it being a Sunday, when the power failure happened. "We had a huge project that needed extra work hours to be put in for completion," she says explaining that it required her to work even after leaving office. "I called my friend after leaving work, and then realised it was an island-wide power cut. But by then certain areas had already got power back," she recalls.

However, on the way home she realised power had not been restored to all parts of the island at the same time. "It was bit of a mad dash as I had to now find a Coffee shop with electricity in order to finish my work, as I was not sure about the power situation at home," she says, adding that the power failure did inconvenience her quite a bit.

Ayesha Wickramasinghe, 23 year old, is thankful the power failure did not happen a day or two before Sunday, as there was an alms giving at her house. "On Sunday the heat was unbearable so we did not cook or do any household work," she says, adding that they were worried the food in the fridge would go bad as it was a particularly hot evening.

Though the six hours of sweat and oppressiveness was irritating, Ayesha believes there were some plus points as it compelled the family to sit and just talk rather than be occupied with other things.

This was perhaps the silver lining in the dark cloud of the annoying power outage.