I Was Almost Electrocuted!

One has to get used to the on/off disruption of electricity when you live in India. I make sure I prepare my soup a couple of hours before dinner time to ensure I have at least a soup to go with rice in the event the electricity board decides to help us save a couple of cents during the peak cooking time.

After an hour’s walk to and from a Tibetan settlement to buy some vegetables, on the way back met up with some Tibetan friends for a drink at a road side tea stall that makes real good, creamy milk tea. Tea is not boiled in India. They are cooked. At this particular stall, the water comes from a near by spring and this makes the tea different from other stalls in and around Dehra Dun. Believe me, many a visitor will not think of stopping by for a cuppa at this stall.

Said our goodbyes for the day and headed back ‘home’. It was only 6.00pm but the skies were beginning to get dark and the cold wind was setting in. The library is extraordinary quiet with only a light or two switched on as almost everyone has left for Nepal. I think only 2 rooms are occupied at this moment.

In the quiet and dark of the night (no electricity again) I crept into the room ready to go to bed. I adjusted the blankets and I heard crackling sound and my blanket was sparkling. For a moment I thought I saw angels but the stinging pain got me out of that wishful state. I still saw the sparkling lights on my blanket and the pain was a little intense so I dropped the blanket on the bed. No, I do not have an electric blanket. It was the static electricity created by the woolen material of the blanket.

Every lunch time is also a hassle for me as I have to always wet my hands before touching any metal items at the dining hall if I dont wish to get 'electrocuted'.