requiem for a dying computer

Load shedding is what they call it here. The power is cut for at least a few hours every day. In Winter times, there is a schedule can be worked around. Now, in monsoon times, there is much more electricity, but the cuts are unpredictable. Here in the office, all of the computers are connected to little black boxes. Today is Sunday and the office is deserted. As I sat alone in the room full of computers, I discovered the purpose of those little black boxes. When the power goes out of Kathmandu, each little box starts beeping, and keeps the computer alive for precious moments. They each have their own way of beeping, their own pitch and tempo, so the result is an electronic choir, a minimalist opera, requiem for a dying computer. Hearing this symphony for the first time, I realised that the boxes were there to give us, the humans, enough time to save our work, finish our emails, log out of facebook.
And this is why it's hard to write. When I try to write, I am paralysed by the sheer volume of moments, some hilariously surreal, some devastatingly real. So much good material, where to begin? So I begin right there, with the choir of beeping boxes, and then zoom out to the view from the rooftop of my new home, the majestic Kathmandu valley stretching out into the distance, little houses, babies in baskets, goats. Then I settle into the rhythm of it. My friend asked me what the kids are like who I teach, so I start writing about them, each one so different, so amazing, and so much like a regular teenager.

And then I lose the entire post. I try to rewrite it, but the task is beyond me just now. Especially with life intruding at every sentence. Someone's key doesn't work, so I must jump the fence, unlock the gate from the outside. Dog escapes, so I chase it down the street. Babu the gate keeper tries to explain something to me about oil. At any moment the power might go out again, and I will have to rewrite this whole thing again. I will post this for now, even though I've barely described the landscape or the people here, or even covered a fraction of the amazing things that happen all of the time here. It will take time to settle into this enigmatic place, to be able to write about it in anything more than fits and starts. This is part of it, the lesson, live life now, write later.