May 17, 2007

Stephan Adrew
documents the
endurance by citizens
of long hours of load
shedding plaguing their
daily routines at home,
at the workplace, in
the street, this summer
 

It is as if all colour has been drained out of life. It’s a black and white world out there. You either have power through utility lines, via a UPS or a generator, or you don’t. The grey area is shrinking by the day. Ambivalence in feelings is giving way to despair and helplessness, the kind that makes the candles melt and bend in the afternoon heat so they are not usable when needed after dark. Nobody is gazing at the stars; the moon looks sad, obscured by dark clouds of dust and emission smoke that has risen into the skies from another tiring day in the city.

 

Load shedding, load management, outage, failure, tripping, overload, shortfall, hydropower, thermal energy, power generation and distribution faults, line losses, etc. comprise the latest official lexicon. The public at the receiving end of it all has its own set of words to contend with: misery, annoyance, sweltering heat, thirst, perspiration, loss of sleep, exhaustion, delays, temper, anger, protest, mob attack, arson… it’s an ever-expanding list.
                                                                                Apathy rules.