Shock treatment!

Everyone had brought an after-meal meetha today. On the table were a slice of chocolate cake, halwa and sandesh. Feeling quite replete, but not wishing to go back to work just yet, we decided to share some WhatsApp jokes.

Me: Have you heard this one? Listen:

“A man went to his boss at work and said, I need a raise. Three other companies are after me.

Boss: Really? Which other companies are after you? 

Man: The gas company, the phone company and the electric company.”

Shobha: That reminds me, have you people received your electricity bills this month?

Sabrina: Yes, we got ours yesterday and I got an ‘electric jolt’! 

Mandy: Really! Why?

Shobha: Quite evidently, you haven’t received yours yet. Prepare for a shockwave!

Mandy: Well, it has been a high consumption period with heaters and geysers on all the time.

Sabrina: Agreed! But there’s no ‘light’ at the end of the tunnel. Apparently, there’s going to be an increase in FPPCA charges which will reflect in the bills for February-March period, followed by a general power hike from April. 

Me: Phew! The current bill seems to be edging us towards the ‘electric chair’. 

Shobha: Wow! This is a volt-jolt! We must think of ways to save electricity.

Mandy: Vaise, we’re already pretty careful about power wastage, but we just have to get stricter, I guess. How about coolers to replace the ACs?

Shobha: No ACs at home? In that case, I’ll just stay on in office as late as I can! At least there’ll be cooling and light that I don’t have to pay for.

Me: We’ve already replaced the old halogen lights with energy-efficient LED lights.Those cost a bomb, by the way!

Mandy: You could think of insulating your ceiling. That would bring a big difference to your energy bills. 

Sabrina: And who’d pay for the insulation, pray? Tell me, why the systems can’t be more efficiently regulated? Haven’t you seen the thousands of kundi connections around? And there’s so much power wastage in public places.

Me: They’re mandating installation of solar panels in Chandigarh! That could be a way to save on the bills.

Shobha: Roof insulation, solar panels, LED bulbs… pretty steep options to cut down on bills, nahin?

Mandy: Spend a lot to save a little! 

Sabrina: We should switch off lights when sunlight could be used to lighten up a space. And get romantic with candlelight dinners.

Me: At the end of a long working day, romance is not what you need. Comfort is!

Me: Seriously yaar, everyone will have to think of strategies of limited and sustainable use of electricity to avoid the astronomical bills.

Sabrina: Hmm… How about planting a light bulb in our gardens? It may grow into a power plant!

Me: Truly terrible joke, Sabrina!

Mandy: Oho! Let’s not get all het up about it! Why don’t we try and keep calm and chant?

Shobha: Chant? Chant what?

Mandy: Ohm! Ohm! Ohm!