INDIAN SUMMER HEAT 2016

SOME observations about India in May. Temperatures at 46/49C.  Daytime the sunlight is hard to take, perhaps early morning and then late at night around 8.00 p.m. you get a little relief. Even then, it is still humid, a warm air blows, and most days there is no wind. If you don’t have an AC room or an AC car, then life gets very difficult. If you step out of the car, it feels like you have walked into an oven. You can have a cooler in one’s room and fan and hope to get a sound night’s sleep but without AC, almost impossible to sleep without feeling sweaty and uncomfortable. You have to drink constantly to remain hydrated.

     Whilst I was there, a man, his wife and sister-in-law, the three of them went out in the daytime from their village near a major city to collect some fruit in the nearby jungle. They walked some 10km. After a day, the villagers complained to the Police, that the people had gone missing. The Police searched the area and found the man and his wife dead from heat stroke, lying on the ground near the jungle, the sister-in-law lay unconscious, but she survived somehow. A sad story and I thought was it necessity or a lack of education that caused these deaths. Several other people had died in the heat too, in cities from heat stroke and exhaustion. The summer heat is not something to trifle with or to be underestimated. Last year over 1500 people died due to the heat, and this year it will be worse.

      The traffic is still a joke, it made me laugh as I went around, there is no traffic sense; at a roundabout, it’s everyone for himself; he who dares, wins. If you wait, then people horn from behind! Why are you waiting, just push right in, others will give way. It’s a wonder the roads were not a crash site.

When you cross the road, look both ways, because cars, scooters, rickshaws all seem to drive as they please, reversing on main roads or not in the least concerned about one-way flows. One late afternoon, the driver passed through seven red lights along with everyone else; when I enquired about that, he said calmly, it was too hot to wait in the traffic lights, and there were no cops around. At cross roads, others waited, or sometimes you had to break hard and stop. Who needs Pleasure Beach thrill rides?

   Yes, India is progressing at a rapid pace with new tower blocks and developments, but everywhere I felt a sense of anxiety. This is nothing new, it has been the same for the past 15 years or so; everyone wants to get ahead, buy a better car, house, job, education and there are too many people chasing too few places. This materialistic anxiety saddens me, and perhaps India has to pass through this transition phase before it finds its original peace, calm and charm. Maybe it has been lost forever. Even in villages, people are burdened with material wants, if they get the chance to leave the village, they will find their way to the city or nearby town.

     There is this constant friction between traditions and the modern way of life. A young woman got married last month, then as she was being driven back to the groom side in Rajasthan, she asked to stop for a bathroom break. She walked out in her jewels and fine red wedding dress.

After half an hour, someone suggested to check for the bride if she was all right. They checked the bathroom, but the young woman had disappeared leaving her wedding dress on the ground but being careful to take the jewellery. Someone saw her wearing jeans and a t-shirt and riding off with a young man on a bike.

The groom side were left very angry and embarrassed, how did they hope to return home without the bride? And without looking ridiculous. The young woman had some daring, but it’s obvious that she was being forced to marry against her will, all the same, she should have planned her escape before marriage and saved her parents the huge wedding cost; maybe she planned her revenge this way. Who knows, but such true stories continue to add to the anxiety present in India.

     Therefore, from the scorching heat, I return to British summer temperatures, and yes you guessed it, there is Rain and the temperature is a solid 15 C, a welcome change I can assure you.