Frustration at its peak - 10 hours of power cut per day!

Hi Guys,

Of late I have not been able to do anything properly due to the heavy power cut that we face here at Tamil Nadu. 9 am – 12 pm, 3 pm – 6 pm, 7-8 pm, 10-11 pm, 1-2 am and 4-5 am – this is the power cut schedule for a day – totally 10 hours. Even the inverter’s battery does not get enough time to recharge itself.

Earlier, I have written three posts namely Horrible Power cuts (April 24, 2010), Dreadful Powercuts (May 26, 2010) and Power Shedding – An Integral Part of Life in Tamil Nadu (April 21, 2011). Wow, the last post was exactly a year ago – an unexpected coincidence.

At least then the power cuts were for 3-4 hours, but now it is totally worse. Thinking about the power cut situation, this scheduled and unscheduled power cuts started just before I started BE. Now I am going to complete BE and now the situation is rather worse. The power generation should have been increased but it has remained same all the way and the planning has also been poor. The parties blame each other for the situation and the fact is that neither has taken real step towards improving the situation.

A banner held during a protest

 Now, the situation looks quite promising. Kudankulam Nuclear power plant is all set to open in 45 days which will lead to production of 1000 MW (the deficiency is around 4000 MW). Some more thermal power plants are also under construction. Hoping that they get completed soon, the deficiency would decrease. But then, apart from that there is no future plan which is again very dangerous. The usage would be increasing all along.

Some of the businesses have been profited due to the power cuts. Inverter and battery sales have been on a high and the demand is so much there. Some of the entertainment sectors such as theatres, food centers, and restaurants have been benefited too. People come here in order to avoid the power cuts.

Students studying in lamp light during power cut

What exactly do people expect now? Steps should be taken towards Renewable power sources, particularly power generation from solar energy (like the 600 MW Park that has been opened at Gujarat). Most importantly, people expect that Chennai should have more power cuts, currently they face 2 hours only. By increasing it to 3 or 4 hours, at least the other cities would get enough power, so that at least the people would be getting enough power during sleeping hours (10 pm – 6 am).

Personally what do I expect? Each time I have written similar posts I have hoped that the situation would be better in the next season. But it has only worsened. I think it can’t worsen beyond 10 hours and I hope I don’t write a 12 or 14 hour power cut next time.

Happy Reading!!!

A Summer Afternoon!

Hi Guys,

It was boring in the afternoon, due to the usual power shedding. I was hearing songs from my iPod and unusually I was not interested in listening to the songs. So, I just took my camera and went to the garden in the hope of snapping a squirrel.  I tried to capture them in the camera, by throwing some biscuits. They were not willing to give me a pose. They took a piece of biscuit and as soon as they saw me, they raced away.

Anyway I got some good images and will be sharing with you.

House fly in the cloth lane!

A small custard apple that fell of the tree. Mom was complaining that lot of fruits were falling down very early.

Starting stage of a Custard Apple

An abandoned Spider web

A Dragon fly. I never expected to see this one. It was very patient. It never flew away from the spot.

A Closer Look of the Dragon fly

A crow and a Squirrel searching for food.

The link for the web album is Summer- Picasa Web Album

Happy Viewing!!!

Dreadful Power cuts!

Hi Guys,

How would it be getting awakened in mid of your sleep because of sweat? I had one such night yesterday.

My parents had gone to Chennai and so I was alone in my home. It was 9.45 when I finished washing the cooking utensils. I had Strength of Materials exam today and hence I started to prepare for the exams. Suddenly the lights went off. I took my mobile phone and saw that the time was 11pm. It was 11.15pm when power came again. I was sodden in sweat and I was in no mood to study. So I decided to go to bed.

Within a few minutes, I was asleep. I was awakened in the mid of my sleep. When I awoke, I was startled. My whole body was drenched in sweat. I found that there was no power. I took my phone and saw that the time was 2am. I assumed that power would have gone in between 1.30am to 1.45am from the amount of sweat generated from my body.

To avoid dehydration I drank some water and decided to stay awake until power came back. I thought power might comeback in 10 or 15 minutes as usual. But time was moving on and power was not coming. In my sleepy mood, seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. I was checking the time for every few minutes and thought power might come back now. But it never came.

When it was 3’o clock I thought there might be some problem in the transformer or in the electric wires. I opened my bedroom window and was dazed to see that the street light was glowing as bright as ever. I was able to hear the sound of neighboring house’s Air Conditioner. I was afraid that there was some problem with the electricity connection in my home. I was standing nearby the window thinking of what to do next. Suddenly the environment became silent. When I saw through the window the street was completely black. I was thinking whether some ghost was playing with me. Then I understood that there was problem in one of the three phases. We have single phase connection in our home, whereas our neighbor has 3-phase connection (that was why AC was running there).

It was 3.15 pm, when power came back. I fell asleep quickly. When I next woke up, I was hearing the alarm sound of my mobile phone. It was 6am. I was not feeling great, but got up since I needed to get ready for the college. Some of my friends told me that they had same type of problem in their homes too. I was bewildered. அடப்பாவிகளா... Power cut பன்ன இப்பிடி ஒரு  techniqueஆ? என்ன ஒரு வில்லத்தனம்???

2 minute power cut

You might have heard about 2 minute noodles. Here a new concept of 2 minute power cut is slowly blooming. Power will go suddenly and in a few minutes, power will be back. This stuff happens 3 or 4 times a day. Actually what is happening is unknown?

Power இருக்கா இல்லையா?

Last week, I read in a newspaper that power shortage in Tamil Nadu had come down from 1500 MW/day to 350 MW/day, because of the increase in wind power production, thanks to the cyclone Laila. Then our officials should have reduced the load shedding time from 3 hours to 1 or 2 hours. But, as if there was no shortage our officials removed the scheduled load shedding.

Last week, when I told my brother about the situation here, he told me, ‘ஏன்டா இப்பிடி  cycloneஆல power கெடச்சா, ஒரு ரெண்டு மன்னேரமா கொறச்சா,  ரொம்ப நாளைக்கு continue பண்ணலாமே? நம்ம ஆளுங்க தெரிஞ்சு பன்றாங்களா , இல்ல தெரியாம   பன்றாங்களா?’

From what is happening now, I think நம்ம ஆளுங்க தெரிஞ்சே தான் பண்றாங்க. Power cut பண்றது இல்லனு சொல்லிட்டு, unofficially they are shedding the power.  This is more frustrating than the scheduled load shedding. At least then, we knew the exact time and we were able to adapt to it.

Scheduled power shedding is much better than this unscheduled power shedding.

Happy Reading!!!

Effect of Summer in my Garden!

Hi Guys,

I took some photographs in my Garden. It was pathetic to see many of the plants. Most of the plants had completely dried due to the scorching Sun. Here I present some of the photos, that I took.

Dust Laden Leaves!

Ant Burrow in the base of a Coconut Tree!

Half Eaten Coconut. Must have been left by a Crow or Squirrel.

Some Insect Burrow! It must have done it to escape the heat!

Dried Aloe Vera! It is the 1st time I have seen this plant dry up

Trees that couldn't stand the heat!

A small plant that has survived the heat!

Cracks due to lack of water!

Dusty Leaves of Sapotta tree, expecting a little blessing from the Rain Gods!

A close up view of the Ant burrows!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Happy Viewing!!!

A little information about phones!

Hi Guys,

Hope you all are fine in spite of a hot summer with long power cuts! Horrifying to think about the days that are going to come, when Earth nears Sun in May!

It’s been long since I wrote my last post. I’m quite busy as I am nearing the end of my fourth semester. I get only a scarce time and then too, I’ll be busy watching IPL matches. Speaking about IPL, this edition is more interesting than the previous editions. Except Mumbai, all other teams have had their share of sweet and bitter times. Now nearly all the teams have to win their remaining matches to get into the semifinals. Let’s see who conquers who?

I had a good last week in general. I got a new phone. Actually dad’s phone was not functioning properly and he was having a terrible time with it. So he asked for my phone so that I can get a newer one.

Nokia 2626- My old phone

First, let me tell about my old phone. I had Nokia 2626 and I was using it for past 10 months. It was a very nice experience using that phone. The main advantage of using that phone was its standby time. Its battery was so good that the charge lasted for a week. Also it had large message storing space (nearly 1000 messages, though I used to store less than 100). The main trouble I had with the phone was the volume, particularly Ringtone volume. I won’t be able to hear a call even if I was in the next room. The internal memory was just 2 MB and so it used to take some time for loading. Except that, it was quite a good phone.

The new one I have got is Nokia 2690. It’s a new model and was released by Nokia this March. The phone is better than another model 2626 considering the features. But I would say both the phones are worth its cost. I bought the earlier one for Rs.2000 and this one for Rs.2800. Speaking about the phone it consists of a basic VGA camera, music player, FM radio, memory slot and Bluetooth.

Nokia 2690- My new phone

I have used this phone for nearly a week and so good so far. But, I’ve hard time adapting to this phone. In my older phone to change the earpiece volume I have to press the left/right navigation keys. But in this phone I have to use up/down navigation keys. It was difficult to find it. In my earlier phone when replying to a message, I’ve to initially select the type of message. But in this phone, the message screen just appears (a step less). Initially I sent a few blank messages and realized my carelessness. The charge is not as good as 2626, but I expected it. It’s as good as any other Nokia phone.

Speaking about the features, the music player is good. Headset volume is fair (I rarely use headset) and speaker volume is very good. The sound clarity is also good. To be true, I didn’t expect a very good music player and I’m very happy since I love music.  Camera’s quality is not that good, but that was expected since it’s a basic model. I didn’t choose the phone for the camera; I chose it for the music player and am happy that it’s good. Display is very good, a larger 1.8” display and clarity is good too. Phone’s overall look is also good.

So, I’m totally impressed with this phone. I’ll give you some information about how I searched for the phone.

Samsung E2130

• Initially I fixed the price of the phone and went to some leading shops that sell mobile phones. What you must understand is there are 100s of models and you can’t expect the salesman to know all the models. So going to 3 or 4 shops will give you a wide idea (I got idea about 4 phones only after visiting 5 shops)
• Next I searched for all the phones that I heard in the shops in the net. I browsed the respective company’s website and also other common forums to know user’s reviews. In this process I came to know about some more phones.
• At last I went to the shops again and made a final enquiry about the price and availability (all the phones are not available in all the shops). The interesting thing is I came to know about Nokia 2690 in this process only.
• Other than 2690, I was also looking for Samsung E2130 and E2120. They are also good phones in this range. Particularly E2130 has dual speakers which mean great sound.
• Some general info about different phones: Samsung phones have good camera quality than other phones. They have more number of models than any other brand. When I searched in net, I found that LG phones were causing a lot of trouble to the users. Nokia remains the most preferred brand because of its quality and user-friendliness.  Nokia ‘5310 Xpress Music’ is the most popular phone in the market currently (it would be costing around Rs. 5000).

Coming back to the academic side, we will be writing the exams very soon. Later this week, I’ve my model exams followed by Practical exams, study holidays and semester exams which will end by the last of May. So, it’s important for me to concentrate and get good marks. Anyway I will be in touch with you guys now and then.

Happy reading!!!