7 OR 8 OR 9 .. please tell me

A decade is a snap of fingers in the seemingly never-ending history of time. But it is quite an epoch in the chronicles of a nation. And definitely a noticeable period in the life of a human being. It may for once fail in turning green leaves brown, but one definitely notices transformations in one's immediate proximities.
I remember the innumerable power cuts the summer used to bring along with it. But what it also brought with it was perceptible warmth that people shared amongst themselves. Inverters were not very popular in those days and generators were a luxury not many could afford. Whenever power cuts happened, families used to gather in a room to save the cost of an extra candle. Men and women used to comfort themselves with a pankhi, a hand fan. And those in the family who couldn't have one, had to settle with the day's newspaper. People used to sit away from the lone candle lest the pankhi should extinguish it.
These were the times to take up long pending family issues. These were the times to plan for the schoolgoer's future. All in all, these were the times to sit together and talk. And to bridge the abysses brought in by the monsters called busy days and devils called busy nights. These were the times for the kids to get up from the study tables and play with the next door buddies. These were the times to be spent with family and in case one wasn't too interested, a chat about the upcoming elections with the neighbourhood bhaisahab was always welcome. These were times to sit on boundary walls of houses and play antakshari. Even the transmission towers used to have power cuts – with the ever lasting “Rukawat ke liye khed hai” coming on TV in case your locality still had power.
Times have changed. India has matured as an economy and in case the power situation has not improved in your areas, Inverters are to be seen in every home. Generators are affordable. And power cuts are suddenly more comfortable. One can continue watching his/her favorite soap without fear of a cut. And kids can do their homework on time.
It’s just that one doesn't know the name of the person next door, who seldom utters a word, just like oneself, and who often has his eyes dug up on one's house, thanks to the outwardly intimidating balcony of his. Also missing are those surprise family gatherings around lone candles, long pending family issues, and discussions.
(The above is adapted from an intranet article by Sameer Sharda)

Now my problem again in the hot cold fight is that there is a regular 2 hour cut in the morning at my place. Now that is not the problem as you must have guessed from the above that how nice these cuts are rather it’s the surprise time it decides to go. It just goes off at any time 7, 8 or 9 AM and if it were not the mobile kept on charging making the sound one doesn’t even know whether its still live or dead. If it happens at 7 then either I wake up before 7 to switch on the geyser or I wait till 9 to have a bath. If it is 8-10 I have to remember to switch on the geyser first thing in the morning or bath with cold water. If it is 9-11 its great as I would have left for office by that time.

And invariably if I do wake up at 6:30 to switch on the geyser it will not go till 9 and if I don’t it will go at 8. Ok at times I do catch it before it leaves at 8 but then that’s an achievement. Can’t explain the orgasmic heavenly elation to bath at 8:30 with Hot water in case the light went off at 8 and the yucky feeling to have bath at 8:30 with the water hot since 6:30.
Delhi is Cool .. Pune is HOT.