Shock

I can recognize an electric shock when I get one. I had received a jolt as a child when I tried to make a magnet out of a paper clip by putting it into a wall socket. I lived and also discovered that it was not the recommended method of making a magnet. In fact the clip remained unchanged. A had a more frightened jolt when I was a professor and tried to move my slide projector during a teaching session. There was some malfunction and the current passed into my hand instead of the projector's circuit. I remembered that time that alterante current was safer than direct current because it threw the person away from the contact while the latter kept the shock producing object in contact. Unfortunately the projector was an inanimate object that did not done school physics. So it remained stuck to my hand and kept the shock ongoing. I screamed for my students to switch off the current, but they just gaped at my face uncomprehendingly. Finally I somehow managed to fling it away, and was OK. The other day our computer in our office temporarily shifted to the OPD block gave me an electric shock. It was far milder than the two I just described. But it was definitely there. 'The earthing is gone' I said. The electrician was called. He confirmed my diagnosis. 'The earthing is gone' the electrician confirmed my diagnosis. 'But I cannot do a proper wiring, because the contractor who did the wiring four years ago during repair of the heritage bulding did not give a map of the concealed wiring.' He gave us a temporary earthing by putting a wire from the wall socket to a pipe in the wall. The shocking stopped. 'Sir, how did a wiring done just four years ago lose the earthing?' one of our professors asked. 'Substandard work' I answered. 'No one knew it was substandard?' she asked. 'I knew it' I said 'because the heritage architect told us that on an inspection round. He asked the wireman to pull out the concealed wiring. It wouldn't get pulled out as it should. There would be no way it could be rapaired later when the need arose. He couldn't control the contractor. I told the Dean. She thought for a moment and told me it would be sorted out by engineers when there was a need for repairs. She knew she would have retired in a year's time and would not be questioned when there was a need for any repair. The contractor was paid fully even without certification from us and I hear even from the architect.' 'Why?' 'It is a corrupt world' I said 'and we are insignificant parts of that world. Or perhaps we are worse than insignificant parts. We probably don't exist.' 'What if someone blew the whistle?' 'Have you not read about the whistleblowers being killed in last couple of months? I asked. The professor kept quiet. No one wanted to get killed for protecting the tax-payer's money, when the true protectors seemed to be turning a blind eye.