Kaberi continues her series, remembering Calcutta sum- mers...

On 25 December, after having removed the stuffing from the turkey and sent it en route to ourstomachs, my sisters and I settled down to watch NBC’s Thursday night lineup. A novel way to spend Christmas, wasn’t it? Unfortunately, how- ever, we had to resort to play- ing Monopoly as we were re- peatedly interrupted by five- second power cuts. Of course it could have been worse...

Though the prospect of forty- degree-Celsius summer days »seems enticing right now, Cal- cuttan summers tend to change perspectives. Those were the days when our bed sheets oc- cupied an inconspicuous corner of the refrigerator, when not spied by maternal eyes. Surely we had fans, you say. We did. We also had a phenomenon known as loadshedding.

In Calcutta, the words “to effect a power cut” have been replaced by a succinct verb, “to loadshed’’. Such economy of words is necessary as the business of power cuts is a topic of conversation that pre- cedes even the weather. From this subject scientists can pro- ceed to discussions of energy, politicians to the other causa- tive factors of power cuts (it is an effective way to increase disatisfaction with the incum- bent), anthropologists and psychologists to inquiries into the effects of loadshedding on human behaviour, and cooks to lamentations on spoiled food.

By Sam Ckello

Out of curicusity, I took myseif to see “a World University Service of Canada official whiie spending Christmas in Ottawa.

Harindar Aulach, WUSC’S Student Refugee Coordinator, had recentiy returned from ‘a tour of major refugee-receiving areas in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Aulach is an inposing figure in his dark blue suit; his opaque forehead and neatly-trimmed moustache give him a slightly Eas‘ Indian appearance. H is the kind personality that co across better when he meets someone for the first time.

Aulach’'s talk, although promising, was didactic and lengthy. he said many interesting

Abroad T

Though we appreciated the value of loadshedding as a conversation piece, we had dif- ficulty in tolerating it from any other viewpoint. Imagine this, forinstance, You are lying in bed, having, after two hours of tortuous squirming, man- aged to position yourself such that you feel cool air emanat- ing from some merciful part of the fan. Just as sleep begins to comfortingly envelope you, you hear it: the movement of the fan is becoming almost imper- ceptively slower. No, it can’t be happening....Slower...slower... the whirr of the fan fades away.

Given these conditions, initial- ly we felt victimized and de- lightfully sorry for ourselves. But as the days wore on, and it became apparent that there truly would be no respite, we decided that we would not be vanquished. This torture, we reasoned, was an attempt to test our powers of ingenuity. (The heat can craze one.)

Because our apartment faced the north, the summer winds that entered were hot while

’ winter winds were cool. (Need-

less to say we spent a great deal of time across the hallina southside apartment, much to the consternation of its owners.) As the wind that was coming in through our balcony doors was hot, we decided that it had to be cooled. (Brilliant, weren’t we?) What if we were to soak sheets in cold water and hang them over the bal- cony doorway? (All right, it wasn’t our own idea.)

WUSC

things. about his trip t9 refugee-receiving countries.

His tour took him to Britain, Djibouti, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan India, Italy and Switzerland.

by Kaberi Dasgupta

Buckets of water and sheets in hand, my mother and I began our task with alacrity. The end was near! Wesoaked and wrung the sheets. I then stood on a chair and began fixing the sheets in place with clothes pins. Having put five pins in place, I bent down to get some more. N.B. Wet sheets are heavier than dry ones.

Through trial dnd error, we discovered a method of hang- ing wet sheets on metal pro- trusions, despite the laws of

‘

houghts From Home

ao

physics that sought to plague us.

“See, Mom. I told you that it would work.”

“What do you mean YOU told ME? It was my idea.”

“YOUR idea!”

“Yes, MY idea. YOU wanted to pour water all over the floor.”

“Just the balcony floor. It would have cooled the rest of the

LAR RTET a

GUE

OFFICIAL RETURNS ~° FROM

Aulach was able to strengthen WUSC’s selection base by meeting Canadian immigration officials and other members of the United Nations High Commission for «Refugees(UNHCR).. He hopes - that his trip

By BRIAN LINKLETTER

TRIP

played a major role in creating public awareness of the mature of the whole program:

What is perhaps most impressive is his fund of common sense and tolerance which ‘enabled

floor.”

“And flooded us out of the apartment. Wait a minute....”

“What?”

“The sheets are dry. So much for your ideas.”

a

Of: course, inventiveness should not be reserved for periods of

extreme heat-

“Mom, my clothes will NOT

burn if I put them in the oven.”

JOE WALKS HOME | Rew YY LA UNAWARE THAT A LARGE DousHNUT AweiTs Him Po | tee EE HE NEXT CORNER. | RSE

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Graphic Capilano Counter

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him to interview refugees applying to come to Canada under wusc auspices~ ,

Aulach was also able to visit Dikhil refugee camp in Djibouti. The

AARGH! DEBBIE! DR SNEEKR— HE GOT DE BBIE !-

SHE. MUST HAVE CALLED |ME FROM HER PLACE /

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ND GOD HELP | a SNEER

WHEN I FIND