Paper short abstract:

The presentation will address three questions: 1. How power outage impacts everyday rhythm of life during Ramadan? 2. What are people's perceptions of temporality due to power- outage? 3. How studying power-outage helps understand Pakistani state.

Paper long abstract:

Early man relied on fire for the luxuries of light, heat, and cooking. Today, we take all these luxuries for granted. At the flick of a switch, a push of a button, or the turn of a knob, we can have instant power. Modernizing society through the provision of electricity to most was, therefore, one of the primary aims of postcolonial states such as Pakistan. Over time, however, such a promise has turned into a nightmare due to energy crisis leading to 12 to 16 hours of power outage in summer. The impact of power-outage on people's everyday life is significant. Especially, in the month of Ramadan in summer power outage leaves people to live at the mercy of nature leading to severe causalities. According to the government and hospital reports, more than 1,250 people die in the month of Ramadan due to the searing heat accompanied by the power outage. While living in modern cities, people are surrounded by medieval time. This presentation will demonstrate how the everyday rhythm of people's lives is impacted in the month of Ramadan in which the intersection of variables such as religion, climate, and power outage proves most devastating for citizens. The presentation will, therefore, address three broad questions:

1. How religion, climate, and power outage intersect with each other and impact people's everyday rhythm of life?

2. What are people's perceptions of temporality due to power- outage?

3. How studying the lack of infrastructure such as electricity impacting people's everyday life helps us understand the character of the Pakistani state.