Life after World Cup

Load shedding is back.

At 8 last night I was staring at darkness The light had suddenly died and I hadn't cared to charge my emergency light. A candle was all I could get.

As I lit the candle and the light from it flickered I started imagining this is how life must be like 50 years back. It was 'back to the future' moment.

During the World Cup, as people switched on their TVs and watched football until the wee hours of morning, the electricity board didn’t dare to cut power. The whole nation was watching. It was festival of football. The electricity board knew the wrath they’d have to face. So the lights came all day and all night as every match was shown live in 2 TV channels.

Now, it is electricity board's time to get back at us.

During World Cup, as I made my way home from work at evening rush hour to watch football, the streets to my was virtually empty. Everyone was home watching TV. The first match started at 5.30 local time and everybody had to watch it.

And in my office, our usual chat in between work was fiery, even war like. We all had our favorite teams - the likes of Spain, Argentina, Brazil. We used to boast of their attacking powers, the skills of individual players, and how they had outplayed the opponents during the match.

But those days are all gone now. The old load shedding has reared its ugly head again.

Now, politicians hug the limelight, smoke from vehicles will fill the street and the lungs of the people, and our office has reverted back to old boring days, when we were mouse like instead of tigers the World Cup had made us.

I can't wait for another World Cup to begin.