Power

Written 56-A04 [2024-07-24], Edited 56-A04 [2024-07-24]

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The lights went out while I was trying to figure out my math homework. I could hear the ceiling fan above me slow to a halt as I picked up my books and pencils. The room was too dark for me to do my homework, and additionally if someone else had been in my bedroom, it would have been too dark for anyone to see me roll my eyes.

I walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. I could hear my brother shout that the power was out, and was vaguely aware of a dark shape that was probably my mom, probably looking for the candle and matches. The air felt so still without the ceiling fans, luckily the sun was down and so wasn’t unbearably hot.

Looking out the living room windows, which were almost as tall as the walls, I could see the city of Bangalore, soon to be renamed Bengaluru. The world beyond our balcony was lighter than the apartment, but still dark - kind of like comparing a black cloth to a black inkblot.

I heard the scratch as my mom lit a match, and then a candle. The flickering light was so much weaker than the bright glow of the compact fluorescent lightbulbs that were all the rage these days. LEDs were supposed to be more efficient, but they hadn’t caught on in the market yet. Either of the two would have been preferable to the eerie dancing flame. The fire almost felt alive, and I could see the wax of drip down the candle like sweat.

I tried to look at my math homework by the candlelight; the superscripts of the polynomials were hard to see with such a poor light source. But much to my mom’s chagrin it was right when I rolled my eyes a second time that the power came back.