The fridge and buffalo milk

The weekend before the last one was not particularly a good one. On Friday night, 10 o'clock, a transformer blew up nearby, but not before severe voltage fluctuations that led to my refrigerator compressor getting shorted and tripping my mains. Not to mention that I was forced to go to bed at that early hour on a friday. However, I did not mind it that much because the earlier 10 days had been hectic with lots of partying, eating, drinking, travelling and suchlike.

Cut to saturday morning and still there is no power and ofcourse, no water. Somehow I managed my morning chai and waited patiently for power and water. I had to go out in the afternoon and a bath was mandatory. When there was no sign of water till 11, I went down to get a bucket of water from the underground tank and took a bath in icy cold water. Right then, at 11.50, water supply was back. What luck!

Eventually, when the power was back, I realized my refrigerator was not working. Now, a fridge should be dispensable and a fridge not working should not be a big deal, except that it is. A fridge not working in this part of the world means no milk. How you ask? Well well. That is an altogether different story.

Where I stay, I do not get buffalo milk. The only milk I can buy is some watery form of cow's milk, which I can't stand. I have had buffalo milk all my life. Infact, when we shifted to Powai and the milkman only used to bring cow milk, I pleaded with him and offered him extra money per litre if only he would bring buffalo milk. Here, even that doesn't work because buffalos are not even to be seen here, forget milked.

When I shifted here, I found it quite incredible that in whole of banaglore, there is no one selling buffalo milk. After months of searching, I settled for a store that sells tetra packs of milk. Not quite like the fresh/packet type but anyday better than cow milk.

Hence, I have to travel to far and wide places and stock up on milk because apparently I can't compromise on the animal in the dairy. A one-litre pack is good for 2-3 days and not having a fridge means I have to finish it in one day itself. This task is quite daunting and thus, the fridge becomes indispensable.

Add to it the fact that when and if I cook, I eat the same food for 2-3 days. Again the indispensability of the fridge is quite evident.

All this put together made me quite miserable the next couple of days. I had to live with cow milk, dine on protein shakes (because I cannot cook small portions) and run after the videocon guys to repair the fridge. Finally, after almost one week and lots of cash, they fixed the damn thing.

And I can stock up on milk again! Life's little pleasures!