Blackout makes people social

WONDERING WHY your neighbours suddenly seem extra social or your friends across the City have been calling or visiting you with more frequency? Do you think you have been reading books and going to sleep early, going out quite often with your family members and actually interacting more with them.

WONDERING WHY your neighbours suddenly seem extra social or your friends across the City have been calling or visiting you with more frequency? Do you think you have been reading books and going to sleep early, going out quite often with your family members and actually interacting more with them.

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Well, the cable blackout has done it all. The blank television screens have had a kind of positive social impact in the sense that citizens have become gregarious and are finding more time to pursue their other pastimes.

Having gotten over the frustration of not being able to watch their favourite serials or catch sporting action, people have started moving out to the streets and interacting better with each other. Evening gatherings in flat schemes and closely-knit localities have become crowded and visitors to homes have increased drastically over the last few days.

“During the last few days, I have interacted more with my neighbours and even family members than I have done in last few months,” Sangeeta Agrawal, a resident of Jawahar Chowk, concedes. “I am also sleeping early these days and feel fresher for work next day,” says Manish Mishra, a marketing executive, mentioning that normally he would keep watching the television very late into the night and found his field work a drudgery.