By Eleanor Mikkimchi Sangma | TURA:
The state is witnessing extreme weather almost every night. Angry skies, heavy rainfall and storms make even the strongest cower in fear. In Garo Hills, even light rain showers can affect power lines. So, it is no surprise that the region has recently been shrouded in darkness more often than not, writes Eleanor Mikkimchi Sangma.
Garo Hills already suffers from an unstable power supply; thunderstorms bring with them more frequent power cuts plaguing many sections of the society. Chichiama Sangma, who owns Mikro Patisserie, has had to face several difficulties owning to the recent and frequent power outage. “My business is almost completely reliant on power supply, so it’s been a total nightmare”, she says. From baking her goodies to whipping the cream to refrigeration, she has difficulties in almost every stage of running her business. The outage is often unexpected, due to which she cannot bake anything. Sometimes, power gets cut off whilst something is baking in the oven. She tells me the biggest disruption happens with macarons, which are one of her most popular items. “Even the slightest disruption in temperature, the whole batch is ruined and I have to throw it away, which is a huge waste in every way”, she says.
Most customers order desserts for birthday parties or other important functions. Many times, she has had to delay those orders. “If I can’t finish them on time, then my customers might also be late to start their functions”, she says. Stating that this undoubtedly affects how she wants to run her business, she adds that the last thing she wants to do is disappoint her customers.
Kamkam Cheran, a bachelor of arts student at Tura Government College, resides in Cherangre area which witnesses regular tree-fall due to strong winds. “Our locality is full of trees, which tend to bring down power lines when they fall during a storm”, he tells me. The storm and consequent power cuts lead to extremely bad Internet services whilst Internet remains the most important tool for students at the moment. “This is a huge inconvenience as most students use the Internet to study and search for information for our academic needs”, he says.
He admits that the snapping of power lines mostly happens in his own backyard as they have planted many trees. “Right below my room”, he laughs, guilty.
However, he feels that in his area at least, the response of the power company is relatively fast. He says he is extremely grateful to the maintenance team as they have to come even at night to repair the damaged lines. “They probably miss their lunch sometimes from having to work the whole day that even a cup of tea makes them happy”, he tells me.
Power cuts also affect those studying for competitive exams. Dipse Sangma, who is studying for Union Public Service Commission exams, feels power cuts and humid weather following a storm make the worst combination. “It disturbs the flow whilst studying”, she says.
She uses her phone to read daily newspapers and watch crash courses. She also uses her laptop to store notes and to take mock tests. “When you’re studying on a device that constantly needs to be charged, power cuts become a huge problem”, she says. She cannot study anymore, which makes her feel like she is wasting precious time and being unproductive.
Dipse often uses nighttime to study. “During the day, I have to look after my niece who is just a toddler along with finishing up house chores. So, evening and nighttime usually work best for me to catch up on studies”, she tells me. However, with no source of light, she cannot even make use of her physical notebooks to study or make notes. “Whilst studying for competitive exams, if one takes a break for even a day or two, the flow gets cut off and sometimes you don’t feel like studying for a while after that”, she adds.
Bachelor of education student Chingkame Momin says, for her, no electricity means no water. Since the regular Public Health Engineering water supply has been extremely unreliable, her family pumps water from a well. “When the power goes, we cannot pump water anymore so there is a scarcity of water for even basic household work”, she says.
Students such as herself have work to do almost every day, so lack of electricity poses a huge problem. “Not everyone owns an inverter”, she says.
She adds that this issue has proven to be debilitating as people cannot accomplish a single thing when there are no source of light, Internet or even cell phone networks.
People have been immensely dependent on electricity to go about their everyday lives. Man and machine of all kinds rely on electricity. It has become a crucial part of life in the modern world, yet still not within the grasp of the people in Meghalaya.