The winds of change
I first noticed the wind last weekend while trying to fall asleep one night. For the past six weeks I’ve been here in India, the weather has been utterly consistent, hot days (especially in the sun) with evenings ranging from warm to cool depending on when/where I was (Delhi, Dehradun and Landour are successively cooler at night), absolutely clear days (I haven’t seen clouds since I’ve arrived) and calm weather (no wind). So at first when I heard the wind, it took me a minute to figure out what the sound was, but once I had, I just brushed it off and enjoyed it as I went to sleep. It kinda reminded me of being camping, as I have been using my sleeping bag as my blanket here in Landour, and the house (while wonderful) is far from weather tight and so you can clearly hear sounds from outside, and the breeze blowing in the trees reminded me of being outside.
Over the last week since I first heard the wind, I’ve started hearing it regularly at night, and starting on Thursday, I suddenly noticed that the nights felt quite cold. Maybe it was a gradual change and I didn’t notice it, but it really did seem pretty sudden to me. I’ve been wearing my sweaters here in the evening (though one was often enough), but I now find myself spending evenings bundled up in a long-sleeve shirt and two fleeces, with my bottom half in my zipped up sleeping bag and my winter hat on my head (which reminds me of the wonderful winters at 93 Division where we all cheaped out on the heating and so ended up wearing hats around the house on a regular basis). Basically, it’s now cold – even for me (and that’s saying something!). At times I feel pretty silly wearing all these warm clothes here in India (though I’m very glad I brought them, despite the fact that they took up nearly a quarter of one of my two suitcases) as all my memories of Indian weather are about how hot it is, but I never did make it up to Mussoorie in the winter last time. Another part of the reason is that it isn’t really all that cold here, I don’t know what the temperature is but I’d guess it’s still at least 5˚C and possibly 10˚C at night. However, the problem is that there is no source of heat in the house besides bodyheat, and the concrete walls, floor and roof (completely uninsulated, though there are thankfully carpets on the floor) feel like ice-cubes constantly sucking out any heat that I can generate. My room is in the back and so particularly chilly as it gets very little sunlight – the only way things warm up here. Plus, I spend most of my time sitting around reading/writing Hindi or working on my computer and so don’t really move that much, and in that situation you start to feel frigid when it is actually still warm out (I remember spending an entire weekend in early November in front of my computer writing an essay, and though the temperature said it was 14˚C, I got so cold I couldn’t work anymore and ended up going to the Library – where I never go, but where the heat was on – to work). It’s especially strange as the days are still hot (the sun is really strong here) but as soon as the sun starts sinking, the warmth disappears and by sunset it’s frigid.
In addition to the appearance of the wind and the temperature drop, I’ve noticed that the leaves of some of the trees here have shriveled and are falling off (they don’t turn pretty colours like in Canada, they just wither to a crinkly hard brown on the tree before being blown off by the wind) and then on Saturday the clouds rolled in and it was actually a cloudy day (I was a little shocked as IÕd become so used to seeing pure blue skies!). It was pretty unfortunate timing because Suman (daughter of an Indian family we know back home in NS) picked this weekend to come up from Dehradun (where she has been learning dance for the last three weeks while on a two month trip here to India), visit me and see just what Mussoorie is like. However, when she got here, you couldn’t see anything because of the clouds, and so I had to show her my pictures of the mountain views to give her a sense of what should be visible (and has been clearly visible every other day I’ve been here!). I’d started to think it was always clear here and thus you could always see the mountains, but now knowing it can be cloudy, it reminds me to appreciate what I have been treated to a bit more. The clouds are also a double whammy since they not only block the views, but also block the sunlight, so even the days are cold if you’re not moving constantly.
What this all means is that winter is finally coming to Landour. It’ll take another month or so to really set in, but once it does, it gets truly cold here and they regularly get snowfalls – and more than just a dusting of white. While the temperatures (with the accompanying lack of heat) make me glad I’ll be down in Dehradun for the winter (where it’s cool but not cold, more like the temperatures I’ve had here for the past month), I would like to see the snow at some point and so may try to come up to Mussoorie for a weekend in January. Going for a whole year with no snow would be tough, so this way I think I’ll get my fix. Plus, seeing an Indian city covered in snow sounds like it would present lots of neat photo opportunities, so we’ll see what happens. Once more, India proves that it is a land of everything all at the same time.
One bonus of the cold weather though is that this morning, I looked out the window and noticed that the clouds were back, but the view of Dehradun was completely crystal clear. I think the cold made most of the haze settle and the lack of sun made what remained transparent, and so while other mornings have been somewhat clear, today you could clearly see all the houses, rivers etc. around Dehradun. You could even clearly see the Shivalik Hills beyond the city, and in some places, the true plains beyond the hills (other times your lucky to see the outline of the hills). It was pretty magical, and amazing to see just how big the city is now – it’s a huge sprawling mass that has taken over the entire valley.
I’ve got four more days here in Landour so I’m going to go out and make the most of it, but at the same time, I think that when Friday rolls around, I’ll be ready to leave. I’ve had a wonderful time here, learned a lot, had a lot of fun adventures and have been able to spend some quiet time just appreciating this marvelous place, but it has been pretty quiet and so I’m looking forward to a change. It’s a little hard to imagine that within a week I’ll be in Agra at the Taj Mahal with all the bajillion other tourists, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.
So that’s it for now, I’m going to go see if Teeka can make me chai (my evening saviour now that it’s cold) so I can warm up before my hands freeze! So if you’re sitting at home complaining to yourself about the cold and wishing you were here in India, be careful exactly where you wish to be, because this part is just as bad/worse!
This is the online home of one Shane Warner, my place to attempt to tell some of my stories, as well as just spout off whatever comes to mind.
Someone was never home long enough to actually get cold (and yet was a ringleader of the “oops, I maybe-kinda-sorta turned off the heat”).
However, tea really is the best way to get warm, and Indian Chai.. what a treat! Just don’t forget to heat your face as well. 
Keep Smiling.