Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Challenge No.5: Nightly Blackouts


Its just like one of my little empires from SimCity2000. The Mayor has gone to make herself a cup of tea so the lack of funds, modern technology, and commitment to invest in clean and renewable energy sources leads to shortage of power supply and eventually boots her out of politics. Dammit.

The small fraction of the households in Bangladesh that could actually afford housing with electricity will suffer from regular powercuts - it happens during the day too, but its the evenings that you notice it - especially if you've taken it for granted all your life. In Templeton's apartment black it happens about twice a night usually for around about 30 minutes to an hour. The convenient stores around the middleclass dwellings has a huge stack of candles behind the counter just to cater for this nightly ritual - Templeton's colleague's wife Lopa coins "The Bangla Tradition". No wonder the birthrate in Bangladesh remains so high...

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