The Lonesome Road

The Dark Ages have returned to Pune. In the previous election, some of the promises the Opposition party made were the providing of free power to farmers and the waiver of interests on all loans to them. The ghosts of those decisions are now returning to haunt them.

The MSEB is owed a lot of money by the state - the figure runs into a few hundred crores. Now the figure is all set to rise as the state will have to pay MSEB a lot more for the power usage. There was a lot of debate between the parties that have formed the government if they could afford to continue giving free power once they came into power. After a lot of heave and pull, the populist view won out and the free power continues.

There are two major problems in this scenario. The government is cash strapped and the farmers are indiscriminate in their usage of free power. Not only is it costing a lot in terms of money - it’s also causing ecological problems in terms of lowering ground water levels.

Why am I so bugged about the whole thing - here’s why. Due to this ‘gift’ from the government, Pune now suffers from a 3000MW power supply shortage. There are no plans to construct new power plants to take up the load and buying power from the grid is very expensive. Pune was exempt from these rolling blackouts as it provides a large amount of revenue. However, the power shortage has reached such a state that the MSEB has no choice. Pune now suffers from 3 hours of power cuts 5 days in a week. The only saving grace is that the timings are fixed and they start and stop the power in exactly 3 hours.

Anyway, putting all this aside - it’s been a busy few weeks. Exams and all are finished and the results are due in Feb. So relaxed till then. We’ve also had a large number of guests - and been to 3 weddings in a week. In the last wedding - I didn’t even know the people who were getting married. Was dragged there by my parents - and since there was no power at home - I went

Had a blast with the guests. One of them was a 4 month old baby. It feels great to make a baby laugh - something amazing. And this kid was the limit - I’d get him to laugh and the moment I started to take a photo - he’d look at the camera - make big eyes at it and make a very suspicious face. Finally had to take a video of him laughing

Have a bad head cold - so if this post meanders - forgive me. My nose is blocking the pathways to my brain.

Well, it’s good to be writing again. Will try to be a bit more regular now (Yeah right - The Blog)

Ta-da-da-ta-da! That’s all folks!