Yesterday, the Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf said ^[1] that there would be no unannounced loadshedding across the country during “Sehr” and “Iftar” time, adding that people can contact him on his cell number 0333-5210000 ^[2] in case of loadshedding during Sehr or Iftar. He failed to mention our options for ‘announced loadshedding’ during Sehr and Iftar, or ‘unannounced loadshedding’ during the remaining 22 hours of the day, but we won’t go there.

I am a big fan of loadshedding ^[3] and consider it a permanent part of the Lahori lifestyle, but I just HAD to try to call our minister during today’s three hour long unannounced loadshedding spell between 6PM to 9PM (which is Iftar time) in the Cantt area. I tried dialing for 20 minutes but his cell (0333 5210000) was turned off.

All I wanted was an opportunity to thank him for being so approachable and open, and for giving us the unplugged time that we Lahoris desperately need. I also wanted to thank him for turning me into a prolific Realist painter ^[4], which is a miracle as I have had no formal training.

Here is my masterpiece from yesterday, called ‘Starless Night in Lahore’:

^[5]

Starless Night in Lahore

and the one I did today – I call this one ‘Lahore by Candlelight’:

^[5]

Lahore by Candlelight

None of these are for sale, sorry! – but you might see them in an exhibition titled ‘Lahore in the 21st Century’ in the near future.

Anyway, besides our beloved Minister (0333 5210000), I also tried

1. the LESCO “Electric Supply Failure Contact” 042 9220425
2. the SDO’s number 0321 4951542 and
3. the cell number 0321 4951540 for the “XEN” (which is probably the coolest title abbrev. ever).

So I hope that you will write these numbers down and spare some time to call them the next time you experience an ‘unannounced loadshedding’ time. If you manage to get through, please share your experience ^[6] here. Meanwhile, I’ll be out there, working on my next painting.