Think Pad
Load shedding
in Pakistan – a study

By Mansoor A. Rathore

My research on load shedding was a challenging experience; marked with sweltering heat, clothes drenched in sweat, ruthless, blood thirsty mosquitoes, the constant banging of knuckles, elbows and knees against pieces of iron rod furniture and growling at anyone who so much as came within a five meter radius of me. Perhaps the most formidable task of all was to determine the main cause of this phenomenon, primarily since a lot of ambiguity was involved in this regard. Load shedding is defined as cutting off the electric current on certain lines when the demand becomes greater than the supply, and the most plausible cause is, as stated, when electricity production is not kept at level with the escalating power requirement in the country. This is in slight contradiction to our honourable President's claim that perpetual power outages are a consequence of strong industrial growth, when electricity consumption increases manifold due to the large number of industries that are set up (jab mulk taraki karta hai to load shedding to hoti hai!!!). However, since this country is most certainly not inhabited by 160 million monkeys, this poppycock can safely be discarded by all.

Even more interesting was to study the impact of load shedding on the destitute mortals. My research shows that load shedding has profound effects on a man's psychological condition and mental capacity. It stimulates negative emotions of frustration, repugnance, anger, aggression, acrimony and leads to an absolute absence of patience. People become more irascible than ever, siblings are at daggers drawn and nearly everyone exhibits an inexplicable urge to bite off each other's head. I chose a family as my subject for observation and the results were intriguing. A sister slapped a younger sibling, saying that he was breathing too loudly and was sitting too close to her. The mother, while fanning herself, was yelling at the children to maintain decorum or else suffer the repercussions of working with her in the kitchen (the children kept as silent as rocks after this) and the father chanted the clichéd slogan that the country is going to the dogs, owing to the government's complacency and indifference.

Of all the victims of load shedding, there are only two parties which actually benefit from this mundane phenomenon; mosquitoes and sellers of UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). The hours of load shedding are excellent thriving and feeding moments for mosquitoes. The darkness that pervades provides them with every convenience and opportunity to feast on helpless souls, sucking blood out of them. It's a golden opportunity they cannot waste, hence the obstinacy with which they keep hovering over the exposed parts of their food. The UPS sellers have also cashed in on load shedding, making humungous profits through increased demand and restricted supply which has pushed the equilibrium price up. The batteries' business as well, though previously relatively stagnant, has flourished and bloomed as a result of load shedding.

But the most important question was yet to be answered. I wanted the answer, the ultimate solution to this problem. For two days, I experimented by doing what everyone was doing. I complained, whined and cursed the government for its failure. It proved to be quite an abortive effort, as cribbing did nothing to alleviate load shedding. I tried to find an alternative, and this time I was more successful. What I derived from my study was this: squandering your energy on futile efforts such as complaining will not do, there are other more effective ways of solving this issue. Using energy savers in houses, turning off light switches when leaving the room, refraining from using six bulbs when one will do and cooperating with parents in this regard are most likely to bring substantial changes and prevent the power situation from aggravating.