Power cuts? Be Happy

Shakila Mastani offers unsolicited advice on  how to make the best of the season

  • Play antakshari: Power cuts mean you have no TV. Take the opportunity to call your folks to sit around and play some old-world games. Pull out that dusty old carrom board. There’s also snakes and ladders, chess, ludo. Remember, it doesn’t really take a musical family to play antakshari. Anybody can sing, as the FM channels reassure us. Seize the opportunity to belt out those Yo Yo Honey Singh numbers looping in your head. Neighbour issues can be resolved if you ask them to join in.
  • Get some sunlight: This is the perfect time to find your inner Usain Bolt. Or Sachin Tendulkar. Or Sania Mirza. Visit a sports store and check out the gear. Given that you are finally showing some enthusiasm for the outdoors, no one will blame you for splurging on sports T-shirts and track pants, or that fancy mountain bike. Join the friendly neighbourhood gym. This is a good season for all that. As the song goes, Rim gym gire saavan.
  • Visit friends and relatives: Take our word, this is going to surprise the hell out of them. It also earns you good karma and partly offsets your asocial reputation. Take a parcel of masala dosas when you go visiting your aunt’s family. Play with their frisky puppy. Catch up with friends who have abandoned you. Stop saying, ‘But where is the time?’ In other words, stop cribbing and seize the moment.
  • Become creative: Draw, sketch, colour, paint, sculpt. Go beyond those paav bhaji pictures for your Facebook status update, and take photographs of your neighbourhood. Look for heritage you can immortalise. Also, check out the libraries, archives, academies and art schools in your neighbourhood. Connect with culture.
  • Catch up on sleep: Switch off your mobile and retire. The doorbell won’t startle you awake. Only problem is, you won’t have a whirring fan to lull you to sleep. One workaround may be to buy a transistor radio that runs on batteries, and play Vividh Bharati. You will soon nod off and dream sepia dreams. Soja rajakumari, soja.

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