Part 2a: An Hour in the Electricity Office

It was Wednesday. I again got a chance of going to the electricity office. I was excited because it gave me an opportunity to get another experience. It was a very hot day. Hot wind was blowing. The wind was so hot that it seemed that it would burn your skin if somebody came into contact with the wind. I locked the room, took an auto and went to the electricity office.

Whenever I went to the electricity office there used to be many people standing in the queue so I told myself that today also it would be same. When I reached the office I was amazed. My prediction was correct. The queue was longer than the previous times. There were more than twenty five people in the queue. I asked a man standing in the queue whether it is the queue for paying the electricity bill. He replied positively. I stood in the queue.

After five minutes a man came and started talking to the man ahead to me. He told him that it would take him at least thirty minutes to pay the bill. I also did the calculation. After doing the calculation I reached to the conclusion that it would take more time. I was calm because every time I came here to pay the bill something similar happened. I moved ahead in the queue. Every moment the queue was getting longer and longer. I was not able to figure out the reason.

The people ahead of me started moving forward. When they did the counter appeared less far. Where I was standing two people were talking there. One of them asked the other person why this situation has occurred. He told him that for two day the electricity office was closed and for many customers today is the last date for paying the bill. His reason was satisfactory.

There were no separate counters for the ladies. Whenever a lady came she went to the counter and her bill was taken. I was habituated with this situation. I just saw the situation and did a fresh calculation of time it would take me to reach for the counter. The person behind me got agitated with this situation. He blamed the ladies for the situation. He proposed that there should be another counter for the ladies.

A boy had to pay the bill. He asked the man ahead of him what amount he had to pay today. The bill had three dates. One date was the amount you had to pay before the due date mentioned in the bill. Other dates were after the due dates. The man told him that he had to pay the amount mentioned after the due date. He asked the man if they were asking for the exact amount. The man told him to get the exact amount if he wanted to be on the safe side. The boy sent his friend to get the change. After a couple of minutes his friend returned with the change. Both of them now looked relaxed.