Corey writes:

Electricity. Power. Franklin's magic kite juice. Like Joni Mitchell says, you don't know what you got till it's gone. For the past four days, we've had power for a grand total of 3 hours during work hours. You know it's bad because we're now counting the hours with current at work, instead of vice versa. I've been without running indoor electricity for more hours in the past eight months than in the previous 28 years of my life. But the point of this blog is not to complain.

Not having electricity really makes you appreciate when you do have it. But more importantly, it forces you to think about it. Take a minute now to think about all the things that are running on electricity within 10 feet of you right now. Now take a minute to think about the last time you had to do without these things, and for how long. Lastly, do a dance of thanks (in your chair) to the power company and/or the various levels of government in your country for making this happen. Not that the Indian government isn't working to make it happen here. But like many problems it's chicken-and-egg. You have to have good infrastructure (power, water) to have growing industry, and you have to have good taxes (from industry, etc.) to build good infrastructure.

Another thing that I like about the power outages (at home) is that we are forced to light candles. If you haven't sat in a dark room with only candles for light recently, do it tonight. It's romantic, or melancholy, depending on your mood. Do it.

I was talking to a friend recently about the possibility of the world blowing up in 2012. "Not likely" I said, "but if the world is some global catastrophe does happen, I'd feel safer here in Koraput than in the U.S." My point was that I think if the lights went out and never came back on again here in Koraput, it would suck, but for the most part people would continue living. Not so in the U.S. We're talking Mad Max, The Road type scenario. How much of our economy would exist without electricity?

Living in a place where power isn't a sure thing has changed my thinking in subtle ways, and will probably have a lasting effect after this experience is over.

Excuse me, I've got to go light a candle.