Ajooba
Hello,
I really loved Shuja Haider’s writing in Ajooba, or that emotion which is excited by novelty. The novelty-effect Shuja experienced resonated so strongly with me that I thought I would write to you guys. I grew up in Barmana, a small village-town located in the Shivalik range of lower Himalayas.
My father had moved to Barmana when limestone was discovered in the surrounding mountains and a cement factory was installed. Growing up, we had a basic dish television (ten-twelve channels), but no VCR or cassette shops. The first time I watched Ajooba, I really thought I had witnessed a miracle of sorts. It was the first work of fantasy I had ever seen. We didn’t have any bookstores. In fact, I was already 21 when I first visited a bookstore. Harry Potter… what? No magazines, no Google. Only Ramayana and Mahabharata. But growing up in an orthodox religious family, these ancient Hindu epics hardly inspired the ajooba-effect in me.
I still remember I had to wait for two years for the movie to be broadcast again. All this time, I just wanted to confirm that Ajooba actually existed in the world and that it was not a miracle I had witnessed! To think that during this same time, Shuja was experiencing somewhat similar emotions, and that too while living in the heartland of Western modernity . . . Now, that’s an ajooba indeed.
Aditya
from an anonymous ex-Gawkerist
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Fan Man
Greetings Popula,
I just finished reading “The Tell-Tale Fan: A Tale of Everyday Heroism, in Five Acts.” I have a strangely visceral frustration with this story about a bathroom fan with no off switch that I will attempt to alleviate with a series of actions I would perform if I was staying at my friend’s house with the same problem.
1. Locate the circuit breaker box for the apartment
2. Try all breakers until the bathroom fan shut off
3. If none of the breakers turn off the fan, see addendum.
4. Once fan is off, remove cover, unscrew the plate covering the wiring to the fan motor.
5. Cut the hot wire (probably black or red).
6. Find a nearby stud (preferably right below the fan) with cheap stud finder tool.
7. Cut a small hole in the drywall to either side of the stud.
8. Buy single pole switch, electrical box, and cover at hardware store and some 12 gauge electrical wire.
9. Run a piece of wire from the fan, down through the wall and fish it out of the hole you cut in the drywall. May have to completely unmount fan from wall to do this.
10. Connect the black wire to the black wire on the fan side. Connect the white wire to the other side of the fan wire you cut. Twist off / cap / tape those connections.
11. Run the other side of the wire sticking out of the hole through the switch mounting box.
12. Mount the switch box to the stud with some screws.
13. Wire the switch. One wire on each side.
14. Mount the switch.
15. Turn the breaker back on. Test your new power of controlling the fan at will.
16. If it works, turn the breaker back off and finish installing everything so it looks nice and is safe. Replace all covers etc.
17. Turn breaker back on and enjoy life????
Addendum – if none of the breakers turn off the fan, rend your garments and set the building on fire.
Thanks,
Nathan
