SITREP_jyo: May 2010

Sunday, May 9, 2010

sitrep_20100509

SITREP 20100509

another disruption in power supply
lasting 15 long hours
on 09/10 may 2010

My place was without electric power supply for more than fifteen hours.
No, it is not that a typhoon or any such thing had disrupted the power supply;
and this disruption is strictly localised to a few houses in the immediate neighbourhood
– I can see lights burning bright just across the coconut plantation.

The slightest rain or even the sky getting over cast is enough to disrupt the electric power supply to my house – and few other houses in the locality supplied by the same line are invariable affected for there is no way my house alone can be cut off.

Last night there was a drizzle at around 2000 hrs or so and as usual the power supply was switched off immediately.

Later in the night it came back; that is strictly in the literal sense. The voltage was extremely low and all that would function with this voltage was cfl lamps; even my onida tv which can withstand the lowest voltage was finding it difficult to carry on.

Now a days I do not make any phone calls to the kseb help number 155333 for it does not mak any difference one way or the other as you will soon see. But last night I tried again and telephoned 155333 when I found the voltage persisting at the low level for quite some time – the voltage dipping cannot be due to any problem in the periphery. the fellow said it will be looked into; but nothing happened.

The voltage was at the same level late in the morning today at 1000 hrs when i woke up after a night of simmering heat and plenty of mosquitos for company. I think the supply was restored later at past 1100 or so - I had switched off the mains again after 10 am - the voltage was enough to run the electricity meters and spoil the equipments that are left switched on.

I could not do any work at all but the main problem that I face right now is that all the food that I had stored in the fridge including the milk and ice-cream, that I like so much, had got spoiled. and I am not in any mood to go out and purchase any food.

1730 hrs ist : it is past 1730 hrs over here and the power supply was switched off just now – incidentally the sky is over cast again – but this time it was restored after a couple of minutes.

Usually what happens is that if I am using my desktop when the power failure happens the system in spite of being supported by the ups will shut down ( could be the system has been manipulated that way) and that was one way of disrupting my work. I have found a way out of this predicament ( I think I have mentioned it earlier ).

now a days for most of the time I am using my net book and it is on batteries. Of course as long as the mains power is there I connect it to my 17'' philips monitor but once the power supply is cut off I revert to the net-book screen and will have only the adsl modem connected to the ups and the ups can coolly support the modem alone for hours. And I have full size usb keyboard and mouse and so all the disadvantages of the netbook has been counterd. The result is that the electrical shut down is not at all a viable proposition as far as the gestapi ( gestapo + indian = gestapi ) is concerned.

2010506

I had been to the csd canteen at pangode on may 06. As I parked my little lily and started walking towards the canteen the pbirds announced themselves and so I went back and put the picture of a couple of martyres prominently on the wind screen.

The technique is you turn the ignition key just enough to get the power on – you dont have to start the engine. In this position the windshield wipers will function. Switch them on and as they reach the 900 position turn the key off -

Lo, Khada ho gaya!

the wiper blades will remain at right angles which is not possible otherwise ( do you know of any ohter technique to keep it erect or can you device one ? No, not viagra ) and in this position insert the pbird pictures underneath the blades of the wiper and you can have the pictures prominently displayed on the windshield.

brought a couple of bottles of cheap whiskey and then waited outside the grocery store to see if I can make a few purchases.

It was the afternoon session and as usual there was big crowd waiting for the gates to open to get in - there is no fixed time for this. I waited patiently and when the gates were opened stayed back to avoid the crowd and then walked towards the door.

Just as I approached the entrance, the power supply went off and the commander standing at the gate declared that only after the power supply is restored will any more people be let in – only four or five of us were there then.

So I waited and waited and thought better of it and decided that I may as well try the brigade canteen and walked towards the vehicle. Once inside the parking lot I realised that I have left my shopping bag in the slot outside the canteen and so walked back to pick it up.

Well; the power supply in the canteen has been restored and people were being let in.

Could be it is just a co-incidence. But you see; it is the duty of all law abiding citizens of this country to help the gestapi in tackling criminal elements in the society.

could be the real reason for the outcry can be found in a letter i have sent to the SIC in the recent past.

THE TRAVAILS OF THE HOMELESS ( contd. ) :- I am in the process of moving out of this house – I perforce have to within a few days, for I have been given notice - and that means I will be moving house for the third time within the last fifteen months. That is a tremendous achievement on the part of the gestapi.

PS. please see that my blogs are not exactly under my control and the aberrations you see in this aspect are not my handiwork but are persisting in spite of my repeated efforts to correct them ; sorry about that.

viceman
20100509
last modified 20100510

LINKS

submission to the SIC kerala

viceman verses

online diary

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

sitrep_20100504

SITREP_20100504

last modified 20100505

well it is 20100504 and exactly mid day over here in thiruvananthapuram. I woke up at 0730 hrs or so, had a hot cuppa and later on had a bowl of cereal and thought of doing some work on the puter when the power supply was cut off. I was feeling tired as well for I am not in the habit of getting up this early especially so after keeping awake past midnight and so went to bed again and by the time I got up it was past 1000 hrs.

the first few days of may 2010

during the first few days of the month, I was busy

From pBird IPS

20100501: trip to aluva – the first time I have crossed over beyond ernakulam in the last so many years.

It was day time when I started off on my bike - I was certain that by the time I reach back there wont be any public transport to come back home and so as is my usual wont kept the vehicle in the parking lot at the railway station so that I can drive back.

But when at around 2330 hrs I reached back i found that the head lights of my bike were not working. When I brought it back home the previous night the head lights were working. And in the morning when I was coming to the station, the traffic was not heavy, it being a holiday (may day ); also it was the early hours of the morning – past 0600 hrs only – and so I was not keeping the headlights on while driving as is my usual wont – driving a two wheeler with head lights on during the day time ? The “intelligentsia” that is the doctor sujathans of thiruvananthapuram, had taken it as another sign of insanity - “budhi illa” . but the mandabudhi does not care a hoot about it ! He sure is going to end up in an asylum - my usual wont As such it is most unlikely that the head light was not working when i left it at the parking lot.

Now the problem was how to get back with no head lights. Well; I managed a make shift headlight. I had a torch light with me in the back-pack ( I brought the backpack while I was on crutches so that I can spare both hands for the crutches and still carry few things along ) and there was a piece of coir in the toolbox that I was using to hook the water pots on to the side of the bike while I fetch drinking/cooking water from the roadside tap some 1500 meters from my house. So I tied the torch on to the handle bar and drove off and reached home without any untoward incident; except for meeting two police patrol vehicles enroute - but I had a head light on !

( by the way the screw used to close the tool box on one side of my bike was also gone. Now a days the old model of enfield bullet like the ones I have has become a fad with a group of people and they want every thing the way it was with the older model – one fellow was eying the original top of the petrol tank of my vehicle when I last time took it to a mechanic. )

20100501 however turned out to be a special day – purampokkil jyothi had a home meal after more than a decade!

Yatheemin kai pitichu sappad kotukkunnavan,

uttaman, allahuvin puthran!

“Par thoo to upne aap bana ke khana khatha hei na, daily?”

“voh khana bhee koyi khana hai lalloo ?”

( with apologies to amit bhayya )

20100502: turned out to be a lucky day.

Now a days there is a lot of activity by the pbirds – a sign of panic on the part of the gestapi - and they start early in the morning and disturb my sleep. And on 20100502 also I was made to get up at around 0700hrs.

I went out with the gun and as usual the pbirds started taking cover and ultimately flying away. But one remained on the tree top and was screeching away to glory - the gestapi was under the impression that at that hight the coveted pbird the spotted ones was safe.