Steeming Without Internet And Electricity

It was 13th morning when through my post and Steemit.Chat, I communicated to all my contest participants that I’ll be declaring the much awaited results for CTR Crossword No. 11 on 14th. I was already sorting out and evaluating all the entries to the contest (the number of entries I got this time were highest ever) that evening. About 10 pm, my friend @chetanpadliya messaged me that the local authorities have decided to put a ban on all internet connectivity in our district along with the adjoining district from midnight until next 24 hours. So I quickly started preparing the Key & Winner declaration post for my contest, so that I could put it out before the internet service is halted. But there was another shock to be. Not even 10 minutes have passed that I found internet connectivity was gone! So what to do now?

This 24 hour Internet blackout by the Government was a precautionary measure to pacify the communal disharmony arising due to some disturbing local event. Since the city I live in is generally very peaceful and hardly has any history of any communal riot, the ban was put only for 24 hours. So I thought I’d be able to make my post live after midnight. But unfortunately the ban was extended for another 24 hours. How stupid it was! An essential utility like internet is being controlled and banned by the Government …and our central governance dreams of a Digital India!

Anyway, that being what it was, I asked my friend to explore the availability of internet connectivity in a nearby district. To our utter shock, we learned that local administration there has put a curfew. Other cities were quite far, so we decided to wait for another day …err, another midnight. But it was of no use as the internet ban was extended for 24 hours yet again.

Now I got a little worried as I had no idea what the market rates for SBDs were going on. Since my contest also gives SBDs in prizes, my contestants would probably be waiting for their prize to be delivered while the SBD rates were on the moon. So next day, early in the morning, I and @chetanpadliya embarked on a journey to search for some internet connectivity. It was a little weird as we were traveling to an unknown destination searching for some invisible network! This was my first journey in my life in the quest of internet. Immediately after crossing the border of our district, we saw two cell-phone towers standing tall adjacent to each other. We checked the network in our device and were happy to found some connectivity. We checked in to some nearby restaurants one after the other but interestingly enough, we found that all their electric sockets were already occupied for charging laptops of people who too had came here in search of internet. Fortunately we found a makeshift highway food joint (known as dhaba in India) which was not functional due to shortage of staff. It had some solar panels too for charging batteries which probably had some stored power. So we got a few hours of accesses to internet from there. This place was quite and good for me to carry on my Steeming work.

The weather that day was quite freezing with no Sun in sight. So while I was writing my post, my friend @chetanpadliya was on the lookout for some hot tea. Since both of us are vegans, he asked the owner if he can prepare lemon tea for us. As expected, he didn’t know how to prepare a non-dairy tea as it’s not commonly demanded by anyone at dhabas. So my friend gathered all required ingredients and decided to prepare tea himself.

_{This is a typical Indian dhaba}

_{@chetanpadliya (at Right) preparing the tea while the dhaba owner (at Left)
waiting to strain the tea, once it gets ready}

We had an amazing lemon tea in an unexpected place. After this wonderful tea out of nowhere, I finished creating my post. I transferred the prizes to all the participants and then I also purchased some Steem for SBDs as rates were still good. I worked until all the power in the battery was exhausted. Then we went to another restaurant and enjoyed freshly prepared, sizzling hot special lunch and happily returned home. What an amazing day it was! Late at night, we found that the internet ban was finally lifted. But still this short trip will always be ingrained as a sweet memory and all the credit for this trip goes to Steemit. It’s not easy to explain to a non-Steemer that why it was so important for us to make this trip. Do read my companion’s account of this trip and you will understand the seeds of a new revolution in the making.

Keep steeming in whatever circumstances you find yourself in. This is the key to successful Steeming!

Steem on!