Blackouts are a metaphor for life

Aug 10, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Life can be very discomforting during a ‘blackout’. Especially if you do not have an alternative power supply such as a generator or a solar lighting system!
Without power or backup power, you do not have the uses of a fan. The place therefore gets hot and you sweat until you are sticky. You cannot sleep, because sleeping under the mosquito net without a fan is a miserable experience.
When the blackout hits the ‘silly box’ better known as the television, it does not work. This is the main form of entertainment for Guyanese and without it people can become restless.
When the lights go out, an invasion takes place. The mosquitoes can be unbearable. Their bites leave welts on sensitive skin and their buzzing drives you crazy.
When the lights go out, the fridge defrosts. It means you have to clean it the next day. Anyone who has had to clean a defrosted fridge will know it is a lot of smelly and uncomfortable work.
When there is blackout the internet is down. You cannot browse, you cannot stream a movie nor can you chat. The loss of power paralyzes your electronics.
The loss of power means that the stereo or the radio – unless it is a battery radio, which people do not have much use for these days – cannot be used. You are locked off from passing the time by listening to some music or to some fellow preaching on the radio.
The loss of power tempts you to go and sit outdoors under the tree in the yard. But in Guyana, people lock themselves indoors at nights for fear of the bandits. So even outdoors can’t be enjoyed during a ‘blackout’.
You cannot hop in a bus or drive over to a friend because you are worried about going on the road. And even if you want to take that chance, you do not know what will happen when the power is restored. You are worried about the surge in power and whether it can cause a fire to your home. You want to call a friend on the phone to pass the time, but then you remember that the credit you have won’t stretch that call very far.
Power is not being restored and with each passing minute your distress grows. What do you do?
You grumble underneath your breath about the so-and-so government and you moan and groan, but in the end you wait it out and hope that lady luck will ensure that the lights return quickly.
Blackouts are a metaphor for life. You grumble, you fuss, you complain, you bad talk, but in the end you play the game of chance and hope that the next night it is someone else’s turn to be without power. You hope that somehow it will all right itself. And in the majority of cases it does, even if temporarily.
Consumers take what GPL dishes out. They take what the government does to them. They take what the traffic cop does to them. They just wait things out and hope that somehow, one day their luck will land – in the form of a visa or permanent resident card – and all their problems of living in this forsaken country will just melt away.

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