Living by the Switch: A Life Shaped by Unstable Electricity

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The electricity situation in my area is honestly something else. It’s one of those things that you just have to learn to live with, but deep down, it’s really frustrating. There’s no stability at all. Today, we could have light for maybe seven hours straight, and then tomorrow, nothing at all—like they just decided we didn’t need electricity that day. It’s so unpredictable that you can’t even plan your day around it. You just have to wait and hope.

But one funny thing I’ve noticed is that, no matter how bad it gets during the day, there's almost always light around midnight. It’s strange but kind of comforting, too. Even if we’ve been in darkness all day, I can pretty much bet that sometime between 12 am and 4am, they’ll bring the light. And because of that, I’ve developed this habit of staying up late—just to take advantage of that short time when power is actually available. It has even become a routine for me. As soon as I see that the fan is rolling in the middle of the night, I’m up, plugging in my phone, charging my power bank, and even our torch light.

Honestly, it’s actually wild how something as basic as electricity can start to control your sleeping schedule, your daily routine, your mood—everything. And it’s not just about charging phones or watching TV. Electricity is deeply tied to convenience, comfort, and peace of mind. When it’s not there, everything just feels off.

What really gets to me the most is when there’s light in the whole neighbourhood, but somehow, our house is left out. That one hurts so much. You look outside and see every other house lit up, and then you look around your own house, and it’s just darkness and silence. Your phone is dead, your power bank is dead, and you’re just there, sweating and irritated. That’s when I usually have to bring out money I wasn’t planning to spend, go out to buy petrol, and turn on the generator—just so I can feel a little bit normal again.

But even that’s not always easy, especially with the cost of fuel constantly going up. You can’t run your generator all night, every night. So you learn to manage. You time it. Charge what you can. Use the fan for a bit. Then turn it off and hope you’re covered till the next midnight miracle."

Honestly, it shouldn’t be this hard. Electricity is not supposed to be a luxury. It’s a basic need in today’s world. Everything we do relies on it in one way or another—work, communication, school, and even just staying cool in the heat. Living without it, or not knowing when next you’ll have it, is draining.

I just really hope things improve with time. It would be such a relief to be able to live without constantly worrying about power—without having to adjust your whole life around whether or not there’s light.

Thanks for reading.