Thursday, June 11, 2009

sparkiness, samoosa crackle and family love



I am sitting in complete darkness. The lights went out at 6:20pm; I heard my mom gasp, as the samoosa's shrieked in horror from their pot of sparkling oil. Something had disrupted their little dance routine, for sure! In the mean time, speaking of routines, Madeeha sat on my lap in front of this laptop and wanted to just 'pwess buttons, masi'. Simple request. She is mesmerized by the wonders of the internet, and she's only almost two. Anyway, so the downing of lights was enough to take our attention away from magic kissing hearts, dancing bears and talking birds online.

Scattered around the house, I could hear the shuffle of feet looking for candles. My sister, Madeeha's mom, Dilshaad, sought out baby. Baby is most comfortable. Of course. Back in my room, we had discovered scented rose candles and set those alight. And baby wanted to help me. Lovely. Guided by the light of my mobile phone, we walked across to the living area. Oil still crackled on defiantly, anouncing its heated state long after the electricity cut. Samoosa's bore the brunt of this affair: browning on one side and remaining an uncooked white on the other side. What a waste. Unless you're okay with artistic re-renderings of the fried hors d'oevre.

Still, we totter about in wonder of what might be going on. Bills paid. Mains in order. Now what? Darkness is also a moment to reflect on things unreflecting.
My sister in law remembers that she misplaced her own mobile phone. Using the last of my battery power I dial hers in a rescue mission effort. Found it! The games on it will help with the mundane sitting around and waiting to see what transpires. This here laptop will last a few hours until the battery gives up from sheer exhaustion, and the 3-G modem is helpful as ever now that the adsl is down. It's amazing that we survive beyond the glory of electricity. It is a wonder, indeed.

Mums made some calls. Dad and brother have not yet arrived from work, and when they do, they will descend on a home set aside from the city by its stark darkness. But inside it, candles dance to a different tune, and hearts wait warmed by the thought that all will sit around together in this contemplation of life without sparky electric current, yet filled with the charge of love :)

8 comments:

Az said...

I always find it amazing how life goes on. The whole world can be crumbling down, but somewhere, life goes on. I guess thats the miracle of life. :)

Khadija said...

A lovely read. :)

Aasia said...

Last week Thursday, we had a ghadat at our house, an hour before we were supposed to start, we were loadshedded!

The Ghadat continued without electricity, and the use of candles. and the experience was that much more profound, as our entire area was silent, and the chanting could be heard down the road!

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

azra.. life does :) indeed...

thanks kay! mwah!

aasia that sounds so beautiful :)

Americanising Desi said...

i could picture all!
and how it all makes so much more sense in the dark :)

Americanising Desi said...

i could picture all!
and how it all makes so much more sense in the dark :)

zahed said...

hello hello hello

It's been a while since I visited these pages (or anyone elses for that matter) and Reading this makes me realize that I've probably missed out on some fantastic posts over the last year...or 2?

No electricity brings families together- no tv,radio,pc,fne....nutting- families are actually forced to get to talk to each other which is the real beauty of it all...thank you Eskom for doing your part in community development.

Really enjoyed the read shafs:) hope u well:)

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

seher-ji :) means my words talk to u? ;) nice

zeeee, how u dude? hmm, 2years??? ok but then at least we've met in between.. last i saw u guys was at sami yusuf... and def see u peeps this weekend at the festivities... will need family AND electricity to make it happen, btw :P

ta for visiting...