The Momma Clan

Uffff!!! This power cut!!!!! Now the night would be spent killing mosquitoes and turning sides on the bed – thoughts of people during a power cut.


“Yipeee!! Power cut!!!! Today again we will play hide and seek, mom will prepare chowmein and dad will treat us with ice cream”, my thoughts during a power cut.

This prompt took me down memory lane when I was a small kid. Power cuts were quite common during those days and there were no inverters or generators.

Where power cuts during peak summer season were agonizing and frustrating for most of the families, my parents would make it fun and delightful family time for us.

We used to play hide and seek during power cuts. Mom won’t prepare dal roti that day. Instead, we all would sit down together to chop the veggies while Mom boiled the chowmein.

Then she would prepare chowmein and dad would fetch cold drinks from a nearby shop.

After the sumptuous dinner is ready, we won’t have it then. Rather, my mom would hold my hand for my dad would blow off all the candles and start counting to 100.

My siblings being elder would hide on their own and I being the youngest, would hide with the help of my mom.

I was the privileged one – if I was caught first, I was not supposed to become a seeker. But, if I Dhappi the seeker, then he would have to repeat the turn.

So, the seeker was scared of me and the hiders would hide me at the tiniest of places because I could fit anywhere.

After playing to our heart’s content, we would enjoy chowmein with cold drinks. Thereafter, dad would take us all to the ice cream party.

Most of the time, electricity was restored by then and if not, then mom-dad would lay carpets on the balcony and we would generally sleep-depleted.

With time, our childhood power-cut fun was snatched away by the inverter. Then dad, who was the mastermind of this game during the power cut too left us untimely and the game lost its significance in our lives.

It was after the birth of Lakshay that the game made its entry back into my life. Sometimes, I feel Lakshay is the replica of his nanu.

He brought the words ‘eye-spies’ and ‘dhappi‘ back into my life.

Whenever I return from work, he hides and scares me with his dhappi. His laughter after scaring me reverberates in the entire house.

Sometimes, he intentionally switches off all the lights and asks us to play hide and seek with him, bringing back memories of the good old days.

With him, I am re-living that beautiful phase of my life. THANK YOU LAKSHAY.

LUKKA CHUPI BAHUT HUYI, SAAMNE AA JANA……. Papa, you would have loved playing hide and seek with your grandson. MISS YOU…