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R&R

The writer is an engineer & CEO turned comedian (by choice) and the host of NTV's Grameenphone Presents The Naveed Mahbub Show. E-mail: naveed@naveedmahbub.com.
OUCH! That was a sharp electric shock...as I see my electric bill. To cut costs, I have started self imposed load shedding. Sure I'm bumping into walls in the darkness, but I completely accept the logic that the price of electricity has to increase monotonically. After all, it is only the rare item that is rightfully precious.
Then there is the load shedding from the utilities companies. When electricity goes is not the issue, it is when it is going to come, that is. Perhaps the authorities can provide the load shedding schedule to the newspapers which in turn can print them on a special page called 'Current Affairs.'
The solutions to load shedding are perhaps here. R&R — from the Rest and Recreation of switch gears to the buzzing Rooppur and Rampal power plants.
The Rampal coal fired power plant is partly funded by India. Wonder
which Arjun Rampal planted this idea in the heads of the powers-that-be on the very notion that anything remotely similar was rejected, rightfully so, on the other side of the fence.
The Sundarbans are the lungs of Bangladesh. Rampal is akin to a pack of cigarettes a day for the mangrove forest. Let's hope its fragile habitat can read the surgeon general's warning: 'Smoking kills.'
The experts have nevertheless assured us of the best possible sterile environment by blocking the creeping in of all kinds of pollutants, including scientific data.
And please, don't even think about introducing hippos in the Possur which were initially longing to head for Kaptai!
Now, if we weigh the inconveniences and the cost of interrupted power supply against a Three Mile Island or Chernobyl or Fukushima Daiichi on one hand and the nicotine addicted Sundarbans on the other, I'm sure many will happily embrace Digital Bangladesh - one hour of electricity and one hour of no electricity.
After all, load shedding has its own seven effective habits:
1 . Hikes in the power tariff by 30% and load shedding by 40% actually results in our electricity bills going down by 10%!
2 . Jobs are created. You hire a person to sit next to the door. When there is no power and someone rings the bell, he shouts, "Ding dong!"
3 .With the government asking everyone to conserve energy, we can remain prostrate on the couch watching TV most of the time, thus conserving energy without being nagged at.
4 .Don't forget the free, steamy sauna in your bathroom!
5 .Now is our chance to do some physiological load shedding, thanks to the electric diet, which leaves us with very little money to feed ourselves after paying hefty electric bills.
6 .Homesick astronauts aboard the International Space Station are jazzed up into party mode as they see Bangladesh. Thanks to load shedding, the country looks like a disco light.
7 .And last but not the least, load shedding provides nature's check and balance. After all, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
So, are we set for illumination at the non-zero probability of (accidental) radiation and pollution? Only the future can tell. I just hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel — unless there is load shedding or an oncoming train.
Darn, just lost power! Oh well, at least I'm not breathing in radioactive or sulfur fumes nor are the Royal Bengals being dwarfed in to being sickly kittens, yet. I count my blessings as I finish up my column on my sleek laptop, powered by CNG
The writer is an engineer & CEO turned comedian (by choice) and the host of NTV's Grameenphone Presents The Naveed Mahbub Show. E-mail: naveed@naveedmahbub.com.