Its 2:20 AM. I am sitting on the front porch. Its been four hours since I returned home from Office. There is no power.
The temperature is a soaring 33 degrees. No wind.
My eyes have adjusted to the low light. I can see dim figures on the terrace on the opposite building. Two little kids and their parents trying to get some sleep. The mosquitoes won't let them. Millions and millions of these pests have wreaked havoc on Tolichowki. They all originate from a a little lake at the back of Golconda fort -filthy to the brim and dumping ground for industrial and residential waste.
On the road, a concerned citizen has just called the TSPDCL Office, the most inefficient bunch of people I have ever dealt with. The last time they came to repair a transformer, they forgot to bring a flashlight. The caller is told power will be restored in an hour's time. I doubt it.
In the neighboring building, another elderly lady is mouthing the choicest expletives for the administration. She lived a better life as kid in the village, she says.
In the distance I can see the decorative lights of a nearby function hall. They must on generator power.
In this sweltering heat, a common man is sitting out in the heat, braving mosquitoes, for a full four hours. While in a nearby colony, the power never goes off as some 'Important' VIPs live there. It is a bad time to be a common man in India.
Our selfie obsessed PM wrote an open letter today on every Indian newspaper...that ache din have arrived. Where the hell are they?