Mental Excursions

Hello winter! Those who were grumbling about winter not arriving, have now no reason to find faults with nature. The snowfall in the upper regions of the country and the hills last week, has caused the temperatures to nosedive. Time to embrace the chill and turn your mental computers to winter mode! It is not that we north Indians have tundra-like temperatures of Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavian or arctic regions, but the rollercoaster from 45 degrees Celsius in summer to 6-10 degrees in winter demands a lot of adjustment from the body and make us wonder how our ancestors bore this cold without the modern-day gadgets. Taken out your hot water bottles? Most of you have experienced winter for a few decades and are experts by now, but what is the harm in ticking off this checklist for the next one month? Dress in layers : Gone are the days when one thick overcoat was advocated as ample protection. It is safer to wear lightweight, loose-fitting, warm clothing in lay...

Good times are coming! You might not agree with me when I say that good weather is slowly coming. I can understand if you associate winter in north India with smoke or haze, created by air pollution; delayed flights, trains running late, traffic jams due to poor visibility in fog/smog. Smog in Delhi You might talk of the larger issue of stubble burning which is now becoming an annual issue like the floods and the government (any and every) has yet to do something about. A friend believes that in the colder months, life becomes dull because nobody wants to move out of the zone of warmth whether it is near the electric heater, a log fire, sitting in the sun or under the weight of a stuffed razai (quilt). Food gets cold fast, clothes or anything else for that matter, don’t dry, But feeling cold is a very subjective thing. When we were living in Chennai where the weather fluctuates between hot, hotter and hottest, with the minimum day temperature at 24 degrees C in late December...