MANGALORE: As the state braces for a power outage, 10 members of Dow Corning’s Citizen Service Corps from developed countries enjoying uninterrupted power surprisingly have taken the unscheduled load-shedding in their stride.Blogging regularly about their unique experiences since their arrival in Ujire to develop sustainable products a month ago, the 10 members admitted that until their arrival to India they had taken power for granted.Elsa Chen, a process engineer from China, recollects experiencing power failures since the first day in Ujire.“We witnessed blackouts at different places, including the Mysore Palace, informs Chen who is part of a team trying to improvise the arecanut peeling machine. Members were spared of long hours of load-shedding as the lodging, where members were put up, had a backup generator. Chan shares an experience of power failure lasting for more than halfan- hour in the blog, read regularly by employees of Dow Corning spread around the world.Finding it unusual, Chan stepped out of the room to discover the hotel employee making a dash to the nearest fuel station in order to buy gasoline for the generator. Chan confesses learning to be calm. “Just like the locals, whenever the power failure lasts longer than half-anhour we try and remain calm.”“We got used to the moment without power and we were no longer nervous.In fact we enjoyed talking in dark,” Chan reveals.Even after weeks of staying in Ujire, I still (sub-consciously) think that I can depend on power being available when I want it, Kathryn Messner, associate industry specialist in Midland, Michigan (USA), writes in the blog dowcorningcitizenservicecorps.wordpress.com.Having visited homes depending on solar lights, Kathryn Messner found it hard to digest the fact that power usage was approximately 100 Whr/day in a home.Many of these homes are awaiting the grid power, she informs.
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