Out of the pan and into the fire
That’s right folks, it’s back to my favorite topic – the weather… Coming out of the mountains has meant that I’ve left the freakishly cool and wet (and therefore pleasant) weather patterns that are lingering over the Himalaya and have descended into more typical Indian summer weather. While my first day back in Dehradun was thankfully cool (seems some of the mountain weather followed us down), since then I’ve been exposed to what summer is really all about here in India – HOT!
The worst part of the heat is that there is no escaping it, it is everywhere, all the time (nights are worst, I can’t sleep if it’s hot). Despite all the advances in technology and affluence, air-conditioning is still a rare thing here, there’s no air-conditioner at the office or the guesthouse, and even air-conditioned shops/public places are few and far between. The second option – fans – are abundant, but they don’t cool you off, they just create a breeze which changes the situation from hot to tolerable. In fact, if you consider them thermodynamically, they actually make it hotter by losing electricity to heat in the process of turning the blades – but we won’t go there. Regardless, the second the power dies (a rare, but occurring phenomenon), you instantly feel your temperature starting to rise as the breeze disappears. Additionally, the constant whirring of all the fans is annoying. I like my peace and quiet, and in the omnipresent cacophony that is India, the one retreat I had – my room – has now been invaded by the constant whirring of the fan. At least it doesn’t click and wobble like the one above my bed did back in our old house in Dehradun 10 years ago – that damn fan gave me constant nightmares to the point I would sleep teetering on the edge of bed for fear it would fall on me in the night. I’ve since learned that those fears may have at least partially due to the malaria medication we were taking (good old Larium and the hallucinations it induces), but regardless, nights weren’t fun.
To make matters worse, the fallback cooling off plan of bathing just doesn’t work either these days, and swimming is just impossible as the number of water-bodies nearby – even indoors – can be counted on one hand, and that’s ignoring the fact that in all of them, you’d likely die instantly due to some chemical, bacteria, animal or combination thereof in the water. Baths and showers on the other hand are out because the water that comes out of the cold water tap these days is usually above room temperature (already hot), and hotter than most “hot water” you get in this country in the winter. Indian plumbing relies on gravity to produce water pressure in the taps – necessary when the power goes out – and so the water in every house/building comes from huge, black plastic storage tanks located on the roof – where they get exposed to direct sun and 40˚C temperatures for about 6 hours a day. To be honest, what surprises me most is the fact that the tanks don’t melt – that’s how hot it is. Add in the whole inconvenience of having to use a bucket to pour water over yourself, and in the end, bathing just isn’t a good option for cooling off. However, since you sweat buckets every day in the heat, the (fleeting) feeling of cleanliness that comes after bathing makes the whole process worth the annoyance/effort. I knew when I left Mayali that I would miss being able to bathe (basically shower) down at the spring with its cool water, but now that I’m back here in Dehradun, I’ve realized I had completely underestimated how much I’d miss it. Oh to be back in the mountains…
However, having complained about the heat so much, I’ve got to say that it hasn’t been as bad as I had initially expected. Life is possible here in the heat, and not just that – it’s actually possible to do things. Lately I’ve been tripping downtown in the afternoons (just after the peak-heat of midday) and walking all around the city (going to the travel agent, internet cafe, shopping for sunglasses etc.) and the heat hasn’t been a big issue. Yesterday when I went past the Clock Tower, I noticed a big sign (put up by the Uttaranchal Pollution Control Board) that informed me that the current temperature was 38.5˚C (as well as SO2, NO2 and suspended particle levels, but I couldn’t read them as the glare from the sun was too bright), and I remember thinking to myself, “That can’t be right, it’s hot but not that bad” before trotting off on my way. On second thought though, I think the sign was right, which means my acclimatization strategy has worked like a charm. Plus, I’ve come to realize that dry heat and humid heat are very, very different (these days here in Dehradun it feels a lot nicer than it did in Ottawa last summer when the temperature was only 32˚ – in 95% humidity). At this rate I’m starting to think I have a chance of surviving my time in Delhi (the hottest furnace in the country after Rajasthan) in July when I go to fetch Sam and Jamie.
One funny little tidbit worth mentioning is the cooling-off technique that’s allowed life to be plesant. Turns out my body’s circulation system is a little garbled, and instead of using normal places like ears and forehead as radiators, all the hot blood in my body falls directly to my feet. It’s great for Canadian winters (as a kid I’d happly play in the snow barefoot), but in the heat, it’s plain hell. Thankfully, the solution isn’t difficult – a big bucket of (ideally cold) water. I learned this trick on my previous trip to India 10 years ago, and it’s saved me many times (both here and occasionally back in Canada too). Before going to work in the morning, upon arriving back at the guesthouse for lunch, after coming home at the end of the day and before going to bed at night, I head straight to the bathroom and dunk my feet. Sticking the first one in feels good, but the second feels like pure heaven (once the first goes in and cools off, the temperature difference between the two feet jumps making the hot one feel hotter, so when it goes into the water it feels like I’m putting it into a freezer rather than a bucket of warm water). Feet wet, I proceed to flop on my bed and lye with my feet directly under the fan and enjoy the further cool bliss that comes as the water evaporates. Before I know it, my feet are hot again, but the short releif does the trick and keeps me going until the next time I get near the bathroom. It’s made me think about ways I can spend more time in water – to the point where I’ve been contemplating whether it would be possible to sleep submerged in a pool on a SCUBA-like aparatus, or how to make an aircon blanket (there’s electric blankets to keep you warm, why not something similar to keep you cool?). Maybe it’s the heat getting to me, maybe it’s the engineering mind I’ve got, maybe it’s my mind trying to find anything to think about to escape the current doldrums that I’m in, whatever the reason, the ideas seem interesting…
As for the typical Indian coping strategy, they just wake up at 4:30am, work til noon and then go sleep under a tree for 3 hours before finishing the day from 3 to 10pm. And when it really gets hot, they go grab a cup of (hot) chai! Apparently the logic goes, “only diamond cuts diamond” (ie. heat cuts heat), and so if you want to feel cool, you should make yourself hotter first so you can then cool off. As crazy as it seems, the logic works in some bizzare way, and so I’ve been enjoying sweet, wonderful “ garum chai” all though past week.
So that’s the state of things – a lot hotter than I’d like, but also a lot better than I expected. I’m certainly looking forward to going up to Mussoorie at the end of next week – and it’s not just for a change of activities. Until then, I’ll be sweating it out in this sauna they call India.
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.
