A woman cooks dinner by candlelight at her Jakkanpur residence in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Most women were a harried lot on Tuesday evening. Preparing dinner in the dark was like mission impossible. Asking children to study under candles was like punishing them.

With the state capital going powerless following the eastern grid failure, homemakers had to fight a battle of their own at home. Shweta Singh, a homemaker and a resident of Lohia Nagar, Kankerbagh, tried her best to ensure that things were in place.

“Only one fan in the house is working on the inverter. But there is no water. There was no information about the power cut. How can you manage like this? Ours is a joint family and everyone, especially the children, had to suffer. My children have examinations from the first week of August, and because of the power cut, they could not study. Now we are afraid that the inverter might conk off,” she told The Telegraph.

But not everyone has an inverter.

Tuhina Chari, a resident of Jakkanpur, said: “The power cut took us all by surprise. If we had prior information about the crisis, we would have stored some water at least. I managed to prepare the breakfast and lunch. I do not know what we will have for dinner — there is no water left.”

Bina Gupta, a resident of Boring Road, said she would order for home delivered food. “I stay in an apartment and the generator worked for the first few hours. But maintenance of the generator is expensive and now we will have to stay in darkness. Life without electricity and water is very difficult. There is no food ready for dinner. So, I have decided to order for something from a food joint or a restaurant. Ours is a family of eight people, so you can imagine what we are going through.”

Minu from Rajendra Nagar said: “We cannot afford to sleep in empty stomach. Our children could not study because of the power cut. We are a family of nine people and have decided to go for home delivered food. Assuming that the restaurant could run out of water, we have ordered for some bottles as well. It is taxing, as we are a family of nine, but do we have an option?”

Not only the housewives, even the working women were affected. Monosree Chari, a resident of Jakkanpur, said: “I have arranged for mosquito coils and candles, but I do not know from where we would manage water. Hope things become normal soon.”