Don’t Turn Off the Lights

Power of Sodium VaporOriginally uploaded by k2cool.

I was a kid when I first saw the sodium vapor lamp ever in my life. May be I was in my middle school days. Our street was without a single light for years and if it had one, it never glowed. One fine evening, we had some authorities from the local municipal department installing a sodium vapor lamp as a street light. They even installed a switch for the same and instructed one of my neighbours on how to operate it. At the first sight of it, I was really amazed to see the power and light it shed.
It was Summer holidays and during night time, we started playing badminton,carrom and chess under the light. One day, my neighbour taught me how to handle the switch so that I can turn on the lights in his absence. After learning to do the same, I was beaming. I felt as if I gave light to millions of life although there were only 15 or 20 lives in our street. I felt like Jesus showering the poor souls with his spiritual lighting. I was the only young kid to operate the lamp when a lot of adults refrained doing the same due to fear of electric shock. This made my mom proud of me and she was boasting of how I would become a engineer one day.!@$%#?&!
Day by day, my curiosity depleted and after a while, I stopped operating the lamp. The local authorities have automated the same to be operated from a central location so that they can turn on a lot of lights from a single location. It still lights our street brightly. That clearly implies that certain people and things do their duty and light others’ lives though no one cares about them. These people and things make life beautiful. I am admired at the power of the Sodium vapor lamp and I would like to be one. I would say a luminary.
P.S.:- This picture was taken with Sundar’s (My neighbour friend) Nokia 6600 camera phone. And the photographer is none other than the great karthick.