The State of Tamil Nadu needs 12000 mega watts of electricity per day but only 9500 mega watts are actually available, therefore there are alot of 'enforced' power cuts. These are more frequent and last longer the further you are from the city, in some rural areas they have cuts for up to 8 hours per day. So far, we have been relatively unaffected but this week the government announced that the City would now have power cuts for 2 hours per day. Many properties have back-up generators as do we, which sense a power cut and cut in after a minute after loss of power. Well, they do if they're full of diesel and the battery hasn't gone flat.
The power went out one night last week at 11pm, just as we'd gone to bed, we waited but the generator didn't do its stuff. DH went out to check it and as he stepped outside he was greeted by the Guards, 'big problem Sir, generator not started', DH thinks 'No sh** Sherlock', and goes to investigate. He finds the battery flat and thinks it best to leave it until the morning...until I remind him we have a freezer with a meat delivery in it, so he goes back outside to try and start the generator with the battery from the car, he removes it and installs it on the generator, with the help of the three guards, DH describes their help as like having three toddlers around him trying to help but making the job 10x harder.
The generator would now crank over but it would not start so DH then suggests to the guards that the generator has run out of fuel, 'No Sir Plenty of Fuel'. He was having none of it so eventually the guards show him the fuel gauge, 'Ahhhh (lightbulb moment) big problem. Empty Sir'.
So, then began the great fuel hunt, unfortunately the car which was suitable for the job was the car he had removed the battery from, so he went through the painful exercise of reinstalling the battery and he then got into the car to go and fetch the fuel. To his amazement all three guards clambered into the car, two of them trying their level best to squeeze themselves into the kids car seats. Getting ever more exasperated DH asked, 'Do I really need three guards to fetch fuel? Who is going to stay behind and guard the house which is in complete darkness with Madam and the children inside?' Blank faces. He resorts to a more direct approach, 'OI, YOU TWO OUT'.
After trailing around Chennai for fuel, as it turns out that most fuel stations shut at 11.30pm, he finally returns with some diesel (are you bored yet?) Then had to do some technical thing to the engine 'bleed the air out of the fuel injection system', means nothing to me, but it was apparently another painful exercise with the hindrance of the guards. Once again he removed the battery from the car and installed it on the generator, and hey presto we had power, not that I knew about it as I'd fallen asleep ages ago, (as you may have also done by now) he then reinstalled the battery on the car for the morning so that we could get to school, and he finally came inside at 1am and unfortunately for him he was back up at 5.30am for work. Our food stayed frozen and the power didn't return until 8am, so I guess that marrying a person who grew up repairing tractors on a farm has BIG advantages!
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