Live like it’s spring!

- March 26, 2022

Live like it’s spring!

A couple of weeks ago a friend living in Berlin asked a very simple question, “How is the weather?”

“Getting warm and dusty because the leaves are falling and the flowers have pollen,” I told her.

“Oh, isn’t it the spring season?” she asked.

This Monday began the Zoroastrian New Year Nuvroz which also marks the spring and of course Google Baba announced the onset of spring the same day, although the Hindus had already celebrated Basant Panchami, their spring festival, on the 5^th of February.

I do not know whether nature is confused, is confusing us or our calendars need to be redone.Just look outside. It appears as if most of the trees have shed their old leaves. They look like they are wearing new cover. Yet the fresh tender green sprigs divert your attention from the pale, dry, crunching piles of their predecessors on the ground, proof that the trees are still in the process of taking off their old garb. The flower beds with plants stooping with the weight of flowers also need to be cleared of dead leaves almost every day.

The vision and creativity of poets and writers draws such pictures of fragrant flowers in abundance and butterflies, honey bees and bumblebees going nuts about the nectar that one would want perpetually to be in spring.

But when is it spring in our country? It is already 38 degrees C (101 degrees F) here and it is not even officially summer. People have started getting out in early mornings to breathe in lungfuls of fresh air before the Sun god makes its appearance and reminds us that according to the legend, it was he who went home with the trophy for being the more powerful one during his competition with the wind.

I suppose it is easier in Sweden where if the average temperature for 4 hours remains above zero for seven days in a row, it is considered spring. Whoa!

Coming back to how confused nature is – most of you must be watching what is happening in Ukraine and my sympathies with them grow manifold because the weather is still cruel there, with Kiev recording night temperatures around freezing.

You can tell me about the latitude, longitude, hemisphere, air currents, wind, precipitation and whatever else influences the weather, but this is not a geography lesson. Neither is it a chapter from phenology about season creep, the change in the timing of the season- the moving earlier of spring by a week in the last thirty years which has affected agriculture and horticulture. It has changed the timings of laying of eggs by the birds as well.

It is not even an annual ritual of rant and complain exercise when summer comes. (See https://anupamaexcursions.blogspot.com/2021/03/lets-party-says-nature.html

The winter was intense for two weeks in January in the north of India. Slowly it started to turn warm and a mere two weeks ago, it was a very pleasant 24 degrees C in daytime. My grouse is that suddenly nature decided it wanted to change the conditions.

The warm snug jackets and woolens have already been relegated to their dingy corners. In fact the very touch of wool or even synthetic yarn or garment bites the skin.

Men have already gone into their shorts showing off their hirsute legs in all their glory while women wrapped in yards of fabric around their bodies now debate about showing of how much skin would be socially acceptable.

The photos and groups for various garden parties have already been deleted or stored in the archives of Whatsapp.

Photos: Dr Anjana Khare

Perhaps like the Railways, we inherited this custom too from the British. Barring the two previous years when Covid danced the demon dance, it has been an annual ritual in the railways department that during spring garden-proud railway wives and senior officials organize afternoon garden parties in their lovingly-cultivated lawns and gardens not only to show off their expertise in growing flowers and nurturing nature, but also as a social event.

Summers in India are dry and harsh so it is the winter flowering plants which bring colour to any place. Naturally the hostess goes all out in decorating her garden, putting her creative skills for others to praise and envy. There is music and food and like other parties, this too may have a dress or colour code.

The guests on the other hand, hiding their epidermis under layers of wool so far, too participate with gusto. There is a flood of selfies and photos with their freshly polished faces, waxed limbs and of course, dresses to show off. Thanks to smartphones, this year one group posted as many as (believe me) 900 photos.

But all that was early this month. Right now I sit under the fan trying to fight the urge to start using the air conditioner so soon in the season whereas others in my house have already started a week back. Each season has its category of arguments, so the day is not far when the member of the family with control over air conditioner remote would want to play Vladmir Putin.

First there is dry heat for more than two months when the strong hot winds seem to be slapping your face, followed by more than three months of oppressive humidity before it starts to cool.

I look ahead at the long summer with unease. The lord of the house is pleased that he can gorge on kakdi (ककड़ी or cucumis utilissimus, a thinner variety of cucumber, available for a very short time in the beginning of summer). But such pleasures fail to fill my heart with joy for I have other things on my mind.