One of my flatmates is a guy who lives in his own world, and has little interest in mundane earthly things like closing the fridge door, taps and switching the lights and AC off after use. Amongst my flatmates, I generally come home from work first and this eccentric fellow usually leaves last in the morning, so I am accustomed to coming home and finding the tap water running, lights on etc. One day I even found the gas on. My flatmate had used it in the morning to light his cigarette, and did not bother to turn it off. Fortunately he left the gas on with the flame, otherwise one can imagine what would have happened on my return after about 8 hours. My repeated attempts to ameliorate my friends senses have yielded no effect so far.
So while having the same old "Can't you switch the damn light off when you leave?" argument with my friend, I remembered a childhood incident. I was at a friends house, who lived in a very small village. By small, I mean really small, with no roads, where a lot of houses were just mud huts. We were playing cricket, and headed to the kitchen during one break. Everyone huddled around the fridge for some cold water. My friend left the fridge open while we were drinking water, and since we were about 7-8 kids, it was taking some time. Seeing this one of the village boys was astonished. He asked "How can you leave the fridge door open like that? My mom won't even let me put the fan on during summer to save electricity costs". Not that I had an awakening or anything after this, but somehow the way the boy had said it in his rustic ways left an impression on my mind.
So while having the same old "Can't you switch the damn light off when you leave?" argument with my friend, I remembered a childhood incident. I was at a friends house, who lived in a very small village. By small, I mean really small, with no roads, where a lot of houses were just mud huts. We were playing cricket, and headed to the kitchen during one break. Everyone huddled around the fridge for some cold water. My friend left the fridge open while we were drinking water, and since we were about 7-8 kids, it was taking some time. Seeing this one of the village boys was astonished. He asked "How can you leave the fridge door open like that? My mom won't even let me put the fan on during summer to save electricity costs". Not that I had an awakening or anything after this, but somehow the way the boy had said it in his rustic ways left an impression on my mind.
