BOOM!!! The lights and fans suddenly got switched off. I heard the distinct voice of D, in a very tense tone, "Do you have power in your room?". I could sense that something was not right. Why the hell would he go on asking that to everybody in the wing? Then there was the knock at my door. D repeated the question which he put forward to Babe to me. I said, "Yes. Why what's wrong?". I turned to the other side of the wing to verify if it is the same state, but it wasn't. Ani and Kc were entertaining themselves in their rooms sitting in front of their laptops. There was power in their rooms. Then D turned towards me with a clumsy smile and said, "I did nothing." Apparently that was more than a confession.
"Explain", I demanded. D said, "I just plugged this spike box in the socket and it gave out sparks and... the power went off." Only me, D and Babe were like stranded in the middle of nowhere. It was about 12:30 in the night. Being budding engineers(!), we could figure out that the fuse wire got burnt due to overloading. But we were too afraid to touch the mains and change the wire. So, we decided to manage the first powerless night of the sem. It was hell, I tell you, particularly with all those bugs and other insects swarming the rooms. I couldn't even protect myself from the insects with a blanket, because I would be roasted if I do so in that heat. "Damn you, D", I muttered to myself and spent a sleepless night.
The next day went on normally. D had called the chowki to fix the problem. He changed the fuse wire and put a new one. A few days passed without much ado. Then, it happened again. BOOM!!! The same voice from the same person. This time I seriously thought it was a genuine power cut. I just tried to taunt D, but later on realised that you-know-what had happened again. Again it was about 1:00 in the night. D tried to justify what he did by saying that he atleast didn't get sparks this time when he plugged his charger, or whatever, in. This time we went to the chowki hoping that he would help us out and save us from spending another sleepless night with all those bugs and all. But, it was in vain. The chowki declared that nothing could be done at that time of the day. But, it was time for action from our side.
D wanted to prove himself right. He took out his chair and went to the bogs (common bathrooms). Anxious to know what he was up to, I followed him into the bogs. He opened the electric box above the switchboard. I warned him not to meddle with the switches, but he was determined to get power back that night. He surveyed the main switch of the wing with a what-does-this-button-do look and pulled it up. BOOM!!! "What the hell!", came SB's voice from a distance. Knowing what D was up for, Kc and Ani had already arrived at the place of incident. Seeing some activity in the bogs, SB too came. Knowing what was happening, he started swearing on D. D started taking out the fuses one-by-one and examining them, trying to find out which one was burnt. The fuses were so strongly plugged in that he called SB to pull them out. "Ah-ha!", he exclaimed when he found out which one that was. He also figured out the fuse for the bogs electrical line and exchanged that with the burnt fuse. CLICK! He switched on the mains and there was light in the whole wing.
We had to celebrate, not just the three of us, but also others of the wing, because if D had screwed it up, there would have been no power for the whole wing that night. But now, the bogs had no light. Babe particularly suffered a lot because of his frequent visits to the bogs every night. Even D realised that he couldn't pee in the dark every night. So, this was brought to the notice of the chowki and there was a happy ending to this episode of "The Dark Age of Krishna New Wing."!
"Explain", I demanded. D said, "I just plugged this spike box in the socket and it gave out sparks and... the power went off." Only me, D and Babe were like stranded in the middle of nowhere. It was about 12:30 in the night. Being budding engineers(!), we could figure out that the fuse wire got burnt due to overloading. But we were too afraid to touch the mains and change the wire. So, we decided to manage the first powerless night of the sem. It was hell, I tell you, particularly with all those bugs and other insects swarming the rooms. I couldn't even protect myself from the insects with a blanket, because I would be roasted if I do so in that heat. "Damn you, D", I muttered to myself and spent a sleepless night.
The next day went on normally. D had called the chowki to fix the problem. He changed the fuse wire and put a new one. A few days passed without much ado. Then, it happened again. BOOM!!! The same voice from the same person. This time I seriously thought it was a genuine power cut. I just tried to taunt D, but later on realised that you-know-what had happened again. Again it was about 1:00 in the night. D tried to justify what he did by saying that he atleast didn't get sparks this time when he plugged his charger, or whatever, in. This time we went to the chowki hoping that he would help us out and save us from spending another sleepless night with all those bugs and all. But, it was in vain. The chowki declared that nothing could be done at that time of the day. But, it was time for action from our side.
D wanted to prove himself right. He took out his chair and went to the bogs (common bathrooms). Anxious to know what he was up to, I followed him into the bogs. He opened the electric box above the switchboard. I warned him not to meddle with the switches, but he was determined to get power back that night. He surveyed the main switch of the wing with a what-does-this-button-do look and pulled it up. BOOM!!! "What the hell!", came SB's voice from a distance. Knowing what D was up for, Kc and Ani had already arrived at the place of incident. Seeing some activity in the bogs, SB too came. Knowing what was happening, he started swearing on D. D started taking out the fuses one-by-one and examining them, trying to find out which one was burnt. The fuses were so strongly plugged in that he called SB to pull them out. "Ah-ha!", he exclaimed when he found out which one that was. He also figured out the fuse for the bogs electrical line and exchanged that with the burnt fuse. CLICK! He switched on the mains and there was light in the whole wing.
We had to celebrate, not just the three of us, but also others of the wing, because if D had screwed it up, there would have been no power for the whole wing that night. But now, the bogs had no light. Babe particularly suffered a lot because of his frequent visits to the bogs every night. Even D realised that he couldn't pee in the dark every night. So, this was brought to the notice of the chowki and there was a happy ending to this episode of "The Dark Age of Krishna New Wing."!
Nice one. I guess this 'tripping' problem is not exclusive to Krishna. I remember being a part of something similar in Gandhi in my first year.
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