We have our routine power cut everyday from 10AM to 1 PM and because I did not listen to the news I did not know what was happening. I have a battery powered inverter which supplies limited power to a fan and light bulb for a few hours.
At 4 PM when we still not get our lights back , I turned on the TV and heard of the massive power crisis which had hit most of northern India, affecting 19 states more than 600 million people. Three national grids had failed . They were overloaded as all these states were drawing much more excessive amount of electricity than what was allotted to them.
Without electricity life came to a standstill.
Hospitals were paralysed - specially the government run ones which don 't have adequate generators.
Businesses were disrupted
Offices shut down and people went home early.
Trains stopped running, passengers were stuck midway.
Don 't talk about the traffic lights.
Miners were trapped underground in Bengal state.
In some place s the Internet services were affected,
Airports were affected.
There was no water supply
In some states people spent a sleepless hot night - the old, sick and babies were most vulnerable.
I was very anxious by nightfall because I did not wan t to use up my emergency inverter battery. I turned off my fan and lights and sat out on the porch , fanning myself with a hand fan with Sheeba for company. I lit two kerosene lamps, but its scary to be alone in the dark. I sent text messages to my friends and called up my sisters - same story everywhere. I could not even listen to the news as my TV remote control got spoilt and I could not turn it on (I patched it up today, so its working now).
Praise God we got our lights back late night . We had some more cuts in the middle of the night , but my inverter held on.
This is all a result of mismanagement and corruption. Hope it never happens again.
You can read a BBC report HERE
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