These days, all I think of is the persistent, omnipresent heat. I know that we in India love our sunshine being tropical beings. And that I have spent my childhood in the hot, baked plains of North India where the hot loo blows in the summers. Yet as kids, heat never deterred us. We would be out playing hide and seek and cricket in the scorching heat in our nana’s huge home. We would run in to gulp down water and be back out and about. And mind you in those days there was no a/c. We did have air coolers. I can still close my eyes and breathe in the earthy, heady aroma of khas from khas ki chatais that the cooler emanated. I remember that in Lucknow our entire family would sleep in the largest room that had the air cooler. This was our routine for the summer.
Then we came to Mumbai where the heat never became unbearable though the humidity did sometimes. Gola, nimbu paani, and cold water were our saviors. The heat never deterred me from going out or doing things. Then I moved for a couple of years to Ahmedabad. The place is a desert. Lots of sand and intense heat that could really burn your skin in hours of sun exposure. Just using the restroom in the morning could drench you completely in sweat. Try cooking in that heat. The kitchen feels like an oven. I remember taking my bath just before going to work and really looking forward to the air conditioned comfort of my office. The only saving grace, you had no power cuts in Ahmedabad even 15 years back!
But, moving to Bangalore many years later was a godsend. The weather in Bangalore is really moderate. And when we reach 34 degrees in the summer, we start complaining of the heat. When parts of India are baking under 40+ temperatures, we are enjoying our intermittent rain showers and cool breezes. Oh yes, these days the temps do go up to even 37 degrees.
And so suffice it to say that I miss Bangalore the most when I travel anywhere else in summer :). Currently in Hyderabad, the 40+ temperatures are constantly driving me crazy. I don’t know if I have lost the habit of tolerating these high levels of heat or have become used to the cool comfort of Bangalore. But the heat simply seems unbearable. The heat seems to be on my mind all the time and does make me listless and moody. Yep, really looking forward to heading home soon.
How are you suffering this summer?
Pic courtesy: Freedigitalphotos.net
Rachna says 
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