Why don't they let me sleep ?

I was back from work after a usual hectic Monday. As expected the things were at their full throttle during the course of the day following a weekend. There were heated arguments and debates, fiery negotiations and discussions whilst chaos and confusion prevailed everywhere. While explanations were sought for the incomplete tasks that were delayed and were supposed to be managed during the last week, the clients at the other end were equally demanding draining away all the energy. While I forced my way out of the workplace with a weird mix of feelings leaving more than the due share of work to be taken care of for the coming day, I had to thread my way through the heavy congested evening traffic encountering many a worrying moments before successfully lending my foot to the threshold. Leaving the chaos and delirium behind me, I left for the work out session to counter that entire mentally exhausting episode. While that brought peace and calm within me, the physical exertion left me more in a need of a peaceful sleep to take upon the challenges for the next day that lied ahead.

But was that to be …………

In a terrible want of sleep, as I slowly drifted into a trance something happened yet again! It was the suffocation and smothering of a late spring night in my bedroom that forced me to wake up when I least wanted to. It was another unsolicited power shut down that left me reeling and cursing ….. partly the authorities and partly my own fate.

As I laid in a state of awe, misery and helplessness I could not help but thought about the millions of helpless poor souls living below the poverty line with very basic needs but their fates all tied up to this very phenomenon; those who were left even without a single drop of water in scorching heat when these frequent power shut downs stopped the water pumping plants.

I thought of those ailing and suffering who could not to be treated or medicated for that very reason. Mindful of the fact that well into the first decade of the 21st century when we are lagging far behind in all sectors and domains like technology, development, contemporary knowledge and education and still struggling for the fulfillment and supplies of basic utilities, I thought of the working professionals, analysts and students who could not afford such terrific interruptions in their works, studies and thought processes especially when the gulf is widening even more with much more resources and efforts being tunneled into the research and development spectrums by the west.

That reminded me of the staggering economy and tumbling industrial units that are losing ground to the competing manufacturers in the export markets adversely faced by the production inefficiencies and per unit production costs for the want of cheaper energy input costs.

I just wondered if there is any use of the billions of rupees that are collected from us as tax payers to nurture white elephants that develop adhoc and shallow policies without any vision or long term planning?

Clueless but with the power supply restored, I struggled and tried to force myself into a slumber knowing that another similar testing dilemma was approaching and only a couple of hours away. I realized that if I could not get some sleep I would not muster up sufficient energy to take care of my tough day that lurked in the offing.