A rather tongue-in-cheek yet entertaining account of an Indian visitor's experience of the recent blackout in New York City, in the Mumbai edition of MidDay this evening :

It was kind of neat to be a part of a piece of history.î History? A power cut? I guess. Worth a T-shirt if you werenít there for the ë65 or í77 ëblackout blockbustersí! I guess. We make history everyday too. Except, rival tabloids do not incessantly debate on which came up with a better coverage (New York Post or Daily News) and no one scoffs at the International Herald Tribune for missing out on the ëcover storyí completely!
In fact, ëlights on for a few hoursí may make it to Indian small town ëní village dailies (Malgudi Times, for sure).

And Iíve just pressed ëControl + Sí on the keyboard the nth time (like most of my colleagues), lest a power cut wipe away all Iíve muttered so far. Mr Basu in Kolkata or Chadha Saab at Delhi meet ëblackoutsí with a daily yawn, ìOh load shedding? Bring out the ëGood Knight matí or ëKatchua Chhaapí. Turn on the inverter, damn Iíll miss the 9íO Clock newsÖî

And here was me, a ëThird Worlderí in a dark, sweaty, yet swanky New York, revelling on how Thomas Alva Edison, not death, is the world's (or indeed, life's) greatest leveller. And it is really that simple.

Einstein, quizzed on what weapons was World War III likely to be fought with, admitted, ìI know not with what weapons WW III will be fought. But World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Before, I never fully grasped what he meant. Now I do.

And here was me, a ëThird Worlderí in a dark, sweaty, yet swanky New York, revelling on how Thomas Alva Edison, not death, is the world's (or indeed, life's) greatest leveller. And it is really that simple.

Einstein, quizzed on what weapons was World War III likely to be fought with, admitted, ìI know not with what weapons WW III will be fought. But World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Before, I never fully grasped what he meant. Now I do.

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