Currant Affairs

HUNGRY FOR POWER

Shakhawat Liton

There was an acute power crisis in the kingdom. The situation was terrible enough to make the all-powerful Queen Shakseena sleepless. She was unable to bear the sufferings of her subjects whom she loved more than the throne she was in. So she had been desperately trying to find ways to mitigate the people's sufferings. She had appointed a dozen of mighty advisers to resolve the power crisis.

But all the mighty advisers fell in love with power (a different kind though) and started to exercise it for their own pleasure. The way they were exercising power proved the kingdom's constitution wrong.

Lives of all the Queen's men exercising the Kingdom's power were flood-lighted with money and facilities. They were claiming that the Kingdom had been flooded with development and happiness. They were asking people to sing in chorus with them. But the ordinary people were unable to follow them as they were not as lucky as the mighty men. As the sun set on their lives, the masses remained hungry for power. Their children could not prepare for the next day's exam. Even at night children could not sleep as electric fans remained dead still due to the absence of power. Children cried more so because they could not watch their favourite cartoons on television.

Shakseena was worried. She had even arranged a series of consultations with people who were considered energy experts in her kingdom. But she was not satisfied with the suggestions given by the experts and she could not find ways suitable to mitigate people's sufferings. She trusted no one. So, she did not assign anybody with the charge of her kingdom's energy department.

One fine morning a marvellous idea dawned on her. She cried, "Eureka, Eureka, Eureka!" She wanted to share it with her dukes and bishops. She summoned all of them. She told them about her discovery. She told them that she had made up her mind to start studying more and doing more research work to find ways to deal with the power crisis. All of the dukes and bishops bowed their heads and expressed their gratitude to Queen Shakseena, wishing her success.

Shakseena began her research. But she found an obstacle: her archrival Queen Dolly Bee kept continuing the threat to dislodge her from the throne. Dolly Bee and her men were also hungry for the kingdom's power. During her research Shakseena realised that she had to do something to prevent Queen Dolly Bee in order to carry on her research undisturbed. She decided to do something so that the Kingdom's people did not find ways to bring Dolly Bee and her men back to power. Shakseena asked all of her dukes and bishops of the Loya Jirga to cast their votes to foil Queen Bee's threat. They wholeheartedly supported Shakseena's plan and amended the Kingdom's charter ensuring that Shakseena and her dukes and bishops would remain in power for eternity.

But Queen Dolly Bee and her men started to agitate in the streets to grab the kingdom's power. Blocking the way for Dolly Bee to come to power, Queen Shakseena concentrated on her research. After a long day's hard work and a sleepless night, Shakseena discovered some significant ways to fight the power crisis. Initially, she spoke about it inside and outside the Loya Jirga. All of her dukes and bishops also joined the chorus, appreciating what their Queen discovered. They termed it as "Shakseena's Great Formula"! Many of them even claimed that Shakseena should be honoured with the highest international award.

Then Shakseena thought she should write a book so that people could easily know the formula and could keep it with themselves and could be benefited by it. She wrote a book. A public holiday was announced in the kingdom to celebrate the golden moment of making the book available for the people.

Copies of the book were sent to every household, educational institution, government, semi-government and private office in the kingdom, allowing everybody to know how to be economical in electricity usage to fight the crisis. In the book, there were some marvellous ways like switching off all electronic equipment before leaving rooms; not using remote controls to switch off the television, rather use the TV's button; ensure that the green light is off too. All the dukes and bishops should wear T-shirts and thin half sleeve shirts, instead of suits to avoid using air coolers. The power department should stop supplying electricity on moon-lit nights. Electricity lines of the houses of members of the civil society should be cut if they criticised the formula.

During winter, many people have to sleep in one room to keep the room warm and hence there will be no need to use a heater. It would save electricity and reduce the electricity bill. Children should not be allowed to watch cartoons anyway as watching cartoons, according to her research, retards their brains. Parents should also not watch other private television channels. All should watch the television channel run by Shakseena to express their love for the kingdom's culture and heritage.

We do not need to repeat all the ways here, as the people of the kingdom know the formula well because they use it everyday in their daily lives! And they are getting benefitted, aren't they?

The writer is Senior Reporter, The Daily Star.

All places, characters, institutions and events described in this article are fictitious. Any resemblance to any person or institution living or dead is purely coincidental.

---