Blackout in Paradise

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Samaira curled up on the sofa with a steaming cup of tea in her hands. She felt cosy in her powder blue fleece top and pyjamas with cute red Santa prints on it. Christmas was only a day away. She watched her favourite show on Netflix while dunking a chocolate chip cookie in the tea and munching it. She said to herself,

“What a bliss… I’m in paradise…”

Samaira was on a break. She desperately needed a break from long hours of work topped with an equal amount of tension, the never-ending wait in the traffic and the forever confusion of whether to take good care of her house or herself in the little free time she got. One fine day, she ditched it all and escaped. 

The escape came in the form of an opportunity for her husband, Tushar to work abroad for a couple of years. He was sceptical about taking it up since he neither wanted Samaira to sacrifice the job which was going great for her nor wanted to leave her back in India and go alone. But Samaira had a different take on the matter. She was bored of the monotony in her life. Change was calling her and she embraced it with both hands. They packed their bags and left for the country of dreams… America.

The first look of the place they were about to settle was nothing less than a paradise with its squeaky-clean streets, awesome weather, greenery all around and beautiful wooden doll-like houses with decorated and manicured lawns. It reminded her of the magical places in fairy tales she had read in her childhood.

The only thing worried her though was that the place was termed as a ‘village’. But she soon found out that the idea of a village in America was quite different from what she knew back in India. It had much better facilities than a small town in India but it had all the brownie points of staying in a village. Lush greenery, peaceful and serene atmosphere, no traffic, fresh air free from pollution and acres and acres of fields loaded with fresh vegetables and fruits visible from the house. The place was known to get very cold in winter and had a lot of snowfalls. But that added to the glamour of it. Samaira had never seen a snowfall before and looked forward to witnessing one.

It’s always a challenge to settle in a new place, that too in a new country. But Samaira didn’t think she would face any problems in this regard. In every way this place looked better than her previous dwelling. It was a medium sized two storey house with big rooms, a spacious dining hall and modular kitchen, two bathrooms, a basement, a garage, twenty-four hours uninterrupted supply of hot water and electricity, central temperature control and what not! She was sure that it was definitely going to be a lovely stay.

Around seven months flew by. Now it was Christmas time, a very special time of the year. The village looked gorgeous with Christmas decorations everywhere. There were Christmas trees in the living rooms and colourful wreaths on the doors of houses in her neighbourhood. In the lawns, there was Santa in reindeer driven sleighs with golden and silver bells hanging in it, elves, plastic snowmen, candy canes and many such beautiful things. The houses in the downtown were gleaming with colourful lights. Samaira was enjoying every bit of it. She planned to decorate her house in the same way next year.

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While sipping her tea and watching TV, something distracted her. She looked out of the window and noticed one tiny white feather-like structure falling from the sky and vanishing upon touching the grass blade in her lawn.

She jumped from her sofa and almost plastered her nose on the window glass pane to confirm her doubts. She could mark a few more such tiny white feather like structures and within seconds there were even more.

“Oh my God it’s snowing!”

She squealed with joy. There had been a snow forecast in the news. Samaira had been waiting to see a snowfall. It was her first time. The snowfall gained momentum in a few minutes. It was falling rapidly now. It looked like pure white cotton falling from the sky and covering her green lawn in a thin layer of white powder. It rested on the tree branches and clung to the pine needles. The view was mesmerising!

“A white heaven on earth…is this Narnia?”, 

Samaira murmured to herself. It was pure delight. She was lost in her childhood fairy tale.

Suddenly something happened. It was a feeling that something stopped. Some sound was amiss. It took Samaira a moment to realize that her television was off and the slight humming of the heater in the house had stopped abruptly. It was so silent and still that she could hear her breathing.

“Power cut!?”

A power cut was not an uncommon phenomenon for Samaira. Back in India it was a frequent occurrence. But a ‘power cut in America’ was something she had never expected from her experience of staying for around seven months in this place. She was pretty surprised.

“No light in paradise! Impossible!”

But she recovered fast. It felt ok initially. She didn’t miss the absence of television since she had anyway stopped watching it for some time. There was still light outside and she was engrossed in the beauty of the snowfall which was getting heavier by the minute.

But as time passed, she started feeling uncomfortable. The snowfall was still beautiful but other things started to worry her. She slightly shivered in her pjs and her feet felt icy. The absence of a heater was showing. The temperature was dropping inside the house slowly. Samaira picked the light blanket, kept on the sofa and wrapped it tightly around her. It was dusk now. It would soon be dark. Since there was no electricity, the decorations in the nearby houses were not visible. A very dim light emanated from inside the houses, maybe of a candle.

Samaira looked around her house. It wasn’t pitch dark. The house was glowing lightly from the light reflected by the snow outside. But she had to light something. She had limited things and never bothered buying a battery-operated torch or even candles. It was not at all needed. She looked with dismay at her mobile. It didn’t have much charge left in it. Her mobile had a torch but she couldn’t risk using it. It would eat up the battery quite fast. She had to find a way to light her house engulfed in darkness and cold.

There was only one place Samaira could think of. She carefully walked through the house in the light of her mobile and reached her pooja place. It was a small low wooden table where she had kept her tiny idols and photos of gods and goddesses for worship which she had brought from India. She always liked to light a small glass pot of jasmine scented candle everyday while doing her pooja. Today that pot came to rescue. She lit the scented candle with a match stick and the room was radiant with an orange yellow light in a moment. She heaved a sigh of relief.

The temperature in the room had dropped considerably. She quickly took out her jacket, woollen leggings and socks from the wardrobe and wore it. It felt much better. She moved the curtains a little bit and sat on her bed and looked out of the bedroom window. Snow was falling rapidly. The black tarmac pathway to her house was all white now. The snow was glistening like tiny diamonds. She kept gazing at it. After a while she started feeling sad. The dark house, pin drop silence all around and the snow falling in a monotonous way made her somewhat sad. She tried calling her husband multiple times but the call was not going. 

Samaira longed for a hot beverage. But it was not possible to make any. The modern stove in the kitchen was electric operated. It was useless as there was no power. The microwave also won’t work. There was no respite from this chillness. She walked into the kitchen with the pot of scented candle in her hand and fumbled in the cabinets to find something to eat. She got a bag of potato chips and started eating them. She was hungry but didn’t feel like eating. She longed for a hot soup to go with it. That dream could not be fulfilled now.

Samaira started remembering her family back in India. Power cut was very common when she was a child. But it never posed much problem ever. A slight discomfort was all it gave. She remembered her father charging the small battery-operated emergency light to its full so that his children could study without interruptions if the light went off at night. She and her brothers would sit around it and study while her mom would give them hot Bournvita in milk with biscuits and mixture. If rain was accompanied with a power cut then there would be hot onion pakoras to go with the Bournvita. Kerosene lamps would light each corner of the house and kitchen and life would go on as usual. The only thing missing would be her favourite show at that time on the television which would have no repeat telecast.

Life never stopped there. It went on and on and people adapted with calmness. Moreover, India has a balanced weather. Here conditions were extreme. People would die of cold and hunger if the facilities like heat and electricity were disrupted for long durations in any way! The paradise was losing its charm for Samaira.

She tried calling Tushar again before the battery of her mobile died out completely. She had a battery pack but she was sure she had forgotten to charge it. Technology comes to rescue if maintained wisely. She cursed herself for her carelessness in frustration.

Tushar didn’t pick the call. She quickly sent him an email. She wanted to call somebody as she was feeling desperate but didn’t know whom. She hardly knew anybody here and she didn’t want to disturb her family back in India by calling them. They would be of little help from that far.

Her phone switched off. Samaira wanted to cry out loud. She felt extreme anger towards Tushar. She felt angry with herself for leaving her home in India and coming to this foreign country. She started sobbing. 

“How could he do this to me?’

“Why did I come here?”

“What kind of place is this?”

The snow kept falling and Samaira kept crying. She didn’t know how much time passed. Each second seemed like a lifetime. She started crying for reasons other than in which she was currently trapped. She missed her home back in India. She missed the job she left. She missed the adrenaline rush to complete her tight work deadlines. She missed chatting with her colleagues. She missed the hustle bustle of life back home. She missed the crowd of people available everywhere in India. She missed sitting in the traffic for long hours with life bustling all around her. She missed the noises of people chattering, hawkers selling things, horns blaring every now and then, a lady fighting with the conductor of the bus over tickets, small children crying for no particular reason, giggling of the college students and myriad such things which were missing here and the absence of which seemed like a blessing just few hours earlier! The grass is always greener on the other side.

There was a knock on the door. Samaira got startled. But she wiped her tears and smiled as she rushed to open the door. She knew it was Tushar. There could be no one else in this weather. She made up her mind to forgive him for not picking up her phone.

It was not Tushar.

Samaira was shocked. Her eyes popped out and her mouth was wide open in disbelief.

“Santa!”

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In front of her stood a man with snowy white beard and thin spectacles perched upon his nose. He was dressed in the iconic red and white dress of Santa with a red woollen cap with a white pom pom at the end, thick gloves in hand, thick black belt and leather boots. Snowflakes were clinging to his dress and his boots were smeared in snow.

“Ho! Ho!”, came the reply.

Samaira couldn’t believe her eyes. She stood like a statue.

“I have heard that you have been a good girl this year. So here is a pizza for you! I know you want this!”, he extended his hand with a box of pizza on it.

“Does Santa really give a visit here? Do such things really happen in this foreign land? This is a magical place!”

She automatically extended her hand and took the box from him, still unable to speak.

There was a momentary silence as Santa stood looking at her and grinning.

“So, Ma’am I think I deserve a handsome tip…don’t I?”

“Tip?”, It was the first word Samaira spoke after meeting him.

Santa’s bushy white eyebrows curled and frustration creeped in his cheerful face.

“I have come all the way here in this snow storm to deliver your pizza, that too in this ridiculous dress! Don’t I deserve even a tip!”

“They have asked me to wear this during Christmas time…they say it will make people happy and increase their sale…I say to myself, what am I delivering pizzas to children? Which adult believes in the “Ho Ho Santa Claus”?”

“Some do…”

Samaira lowered her eyelashes and suppressed a smile.

“The youngsters refused to do it, so I had to take up this responsibility in the spirit of Christmas. Hope this helps in keeping the Christmas traditions alive and people believe in the magic of this time!”, The man said thoughtfully.

He looked around rubbing his gloved hands together.

“This snowfall is great if one is sitting at home in front of the fireplace and sipping hot cocoa with marshmallows in it”

“Not wandering in this freezing cold in knee deep snow”

He momentarily looked at the snow in the pathway and said,

“No not knee deep yet. But I’m sure it will be by the morning if the snow continues falling at this rate…”

He kept on blabbering to himself.

Samaira was fully convinced by now that he was no Santa. He was just an old man who delivered pizzas to make a living. She felt sympathy for him that he had to work in this weather during Christmas time. She recovered from her dreamy world and decided to act like an adult.

“Excuse me Sir…I think you are mistaken…I didn’t order any pizza…it must be for someone else”, she said with extreme politeness.

The man looked confused. He quickly took out the bill from his coat pocket and began reading it out loud.

“Sa…ma…i…ra… Sh…ar…ma…, 121 Devon Street”

He smiled at himself while struggling to read,

“Hehe…funny name….”

“But a good one…”, he added with haste.

Next, he checked the house number from the wall and asked,

“The house number is correct…is ‘Saamaaeera’ not you ma’am?”

Samaira was confused. She never ordered any pizza.

“Err…that would be me…”

The man started laughing out loud.

“You are lucky! Must be an admirer who ordered pizza for you!”

“Some people have to work hard to afford a meal and some get it for free without even knowing!”

Samaira looked guilty.

“Hey don’t feel bad ma’am! You are a beautiful young lady. This is your time!”

“Even I used to enjoy such privileges a long time back”

“Ah! Those were the days!”

The old man looked happy reminiscing his past.

Samaira thought there was only one thing she could do now. She fumbled in her jacket pocket and thankfully found some cash. She handed it over to him.

“This is for you! Have a great Christmas!”, she flashed a sweet smile.

The old man took the cash with absolute delight. 

“Ho Ho! Thank you, ma’am! Merry Christmas to you too!”

He left thumping his boots.

Samaira closed the door and sighed.

“Could this day get any weirder?”

The delicious smell of hot pizza was wafting in the house. Her stomach rumbled. It was dinner time already. She felt too hungry. She was also worried thinking about Tushar. But the brain works best when the stomach is full. She placed the scented candle on the table and sat in the chair. She opened the box of pizza but felt hesitant to eat it and wondered who could have sent it. She pondered over it for a few seconds and then gave up. 

“Whoever it is…. I’m eating…”

The fresh and delicious aroma blocked her mind from thinking further. She took a bite and felt that it was the tastiest pizza she had ever had.

“Umm…delicious”

She had one piece after another and paused only when her stomach was too full. She saved some for Tushar so that he could also have some fresh food although it was sure to get cold at this temperature.

Samaira lay down comfortably on the sofa and looked out of the window at the snowfall again.

“Yeah, yeah keep on falling. You are still beautiful, you know. I can keep looking at you and freezes to death just sitting here.”

She wrapped the blanket tightly around her and lay down. 

“I miss my home…”

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Samaira didn’t know when she slept off. She woke up startled by a loud knock on the door.

She literally jumped from the sofa and headed straight to the door tumbling on her blanket on the way and almost fell on the closed door. She quickly turned the door knob mumbling to herself.

“It should be Tushar…it should be Tushar…”

Her prayers were answered. Thankfully this time it was Tushar.

Tushar stood with flakes of snow all over his clothes and boot.

Samaira wanted to tell him how much she missed him but the guilty look on his face changed her demeanour in a flash. 

“How could you do this? Where had you dumped your wretched phone that no calls could reach it?”

“Do you know what all happened here? I could have easily died of cold and hunger! Do you see the condition of this place? No light, no heat nothing!”

Tushar heard her with patience and then replied in a calm tone.

“What I can see from here is that electricity is there, heater is running, your much awaited snowfall is falling, the house is cosy and warm and smelling great too”

“What is that? A weird mixture of pizza and jasmine?”

“I don’t know why you complain dear?”, he smiled.

“Can I enter now? It’s freezing outside!”

Tushar pushed her aside and entered the house, closing the door behind him.

Samaira was dumbstruck for a few seconds. She couldn’t react. That happens to her whenever she wakes up from a long nap. The head would feel dizzy and her mind foggy. She tried to remember. She realized she was sweating all over.

“Oh my God! Is that the sound and feel of the heater! When did the power come back!”

She stared at the bright light around and threw open her jacket. The scented candle pot was still burning with its dim light on the table.

“Believe me Tushar. There was no power sometime back!”

Tushar took a bite of the leftover pizza on the table and said casually.

“Is it?”

“Yes! And Santa brought that pizza!”, she made her case worse by saying this.

Tushar sat on the chair and laughed out loud with his face stuffed with pizza.

“I know…he came in his carriage driven by reindeers, right? The snow-covered roads didn’t bother him like it did to me…because he was flying in his sleigh!” Tushar had another bout of laugh.

Samaira looked serious.

“I mean the old man who delivered the pizza was in Santa costume and well…he looked like Santa too…”

“Tushar, that’s not funny at all. You are being mean.”

Tushar controlled his laugh and said,

“Sorry sorry…the truth is that the pizza was sent by Santa only…he goes by the name ‘Tushar’ these days…”

He started laughing again. 

But Samaira was not amused to the slightest. She burst into tears.

Tushar was surprised at such a reaction. He had never seen Samaira cry like that before. He quickly apologised.

“I am so sorry Sam… I think I have unknowingly been very insensitive…”

He held her arms and told her,

“You are not hallucinating…a transformer got damaged in our area…hence the power outage…I know it must have caused you so much inconvenience…next time will keep an emergency kit for such conditions ready ok?”

Samaira wiped her tears and nodded in agreement.

“My phone was unreachable since it completely stopped working…some issue in it…and I was so busy with work that I came to know about it only when I checked my mail and found your message…I had immediately called you from my office phone but yours was switched off…”

“Then I checked the local news in our area online and there knew about the power outage”

“I knew you won’t know anything about it since our Wi-Fi must not be working”

“So, I hurried home but was delayed due to the snow storm. But before leaving office, I ordered a pizza for you online from my laptop from this new pizza joint in our area near our home “Uncle John’s pizza”. They told me since our address was near their shop so they won’t have a problem in home delivery.”

“So long story short…I am your Santa!”

Samaira smiled finally.

“I was so scared you know…you won’t believe how I passed my time in this cold and darkness… I slept off and didn’t even know when the power came back!”

“That’s what I like about you…when people are scared, they do crazy things…and my wife? She sleeps!”

They laughed heartily together.

“But I can understand…. I am so sorry again for not being able to reach you”, Tushar hugged her.

“No, it’s ok…it was my fault too…I should have kept my phone and battery pack charged…”

“Here comes the confession!”

They both stood near the window and watched the snowfall and the colourful light decorations which were up again.

“It’s so lovely…can’t imagine Christmas without lights!”

“The snowfall adds to the magic…a white Christmas!”, Tushar added.

“And we both are together on this Christmas eve”, Samaira smiled and both enjoyed the snowfall holding hands.

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Samaira woke up early in the morning since she had slept a lot. She whispered Merry Christmas to Tushar who was deep in sleep.

The snowfall had stopped and it was milky white outside.

“Ooh a winter wonderland!”

She switched on the TV, made a coffee for herself and checked her mobile. It was full of Christmas wishes. She scrolled through all the messages but one caught her attention from Uncle John’s Pizza. She opened it. It read,

“Merry Christmas to you and your family! We regret that we were unable to deliver you pizza yesterday. Due to rough weather, the pizza delivery guy wasn’t able to come. We tried to reach you in this number but failed. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. Next time we will deliver your pizza for free!”

Samaira’s eyes popped out and she looked shocked beyond belief.

A song played in the television,

“You better watch out,

You better not cry,

You better not pout,

I am telling you why,

Santa Claus is coming to town!!”

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