Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Fun at 40+

The first thing you notice is the dryness. Your skin and hair dry up, unreachable spots start itching, and the degree of itchiness is directly proportional to the number of people in your vicinity. Your skin burns all the time, but you feel cold inside. No matter how many glasses of liquid you pour down your throat, your thirst is never quenched. People annoy you, and it always seems like you are surrounded by people who wouldn’t keep their mouths shut when all you want is some peace and quiet. The atmosphere buzzes with activity, the traffic sounds seem to be much louder than before, and the cry of the vendors much more irritating. All of a sudden it seems like the world is doing its best to make you cry out in frustration and make you want to shave your head and run around naked, but you remind yourself that you are still a normal sensible adult, and you hang on to every tiny shred of sanity you could find. You tell people how you feel, but nobody seems to be listening - they have their own worries and problems. You wanted to give it all up, but deep down inside you know you must fight this to the end and will emerge victorious. So, day after sweltering day, you turn on the ceiling fan, the air cooler, the air conditioner, drink gallons of water and immerse yourself in buckets of bath water, waiting for the day when you will be able to say “It’s raining!”

Life sure is fun at 40+ degrees.

18 comments:

  1. ah hyderabad. wife and i used to call meru taxis to go to a movie just for a break from the heat. living on the top floor without air conditioning...i still don't know how we managed!

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  2. Life at 25- here :)
    Guess right now, the grass IS greener this side of the country.
    A little consolation: When it does rain, it will feel sooo good.

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  3. I agree with Ku2 there, I'm back home and intentionally wearing less to just feel what its like to shiver in the cold again, a feeling that was foreign to me only last week. :D Take heart, the rains are not too far off... well here, its probably today.. AGAIN! hehe!
    Just a thought: If an average was taken of the temperatures in all the cities of the world, would it be hot or cold? Hmm..

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  4. feddabonn - still living on the top floor, still without a/c, still going to a/c malls to escape the heat. I guess some things don't change.

    kuku - I'm waiting for the day when our grass will turn green, which I hope is not too far away.

    blackestred - I was home the last three weeks and the weather was perfect, not too hot (for me at least, although everyone else complained that 30 degrees was unbearable) and the rains hadn't come yet. Send me some rain, will you?

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  5. Here, in Delhi, the weather is playing hide and seek with us pretending to rain with all that windy weather and cloudy clouds, but it all comes to a halt, damn it. I am wet but not of the rain.

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  6. This last one week, I was there and here. So I know what you're talking about. Fortunately I am in office the entire day under freezing AC condition and go home early in the morning 2'amish, and sleep under freezing AC again, and then leave for office around 8'amish, again before it gets hot. So I am not that much affected by the hot blistering and humid heat here in Mumbai :)

    Back during my Hyderabad days, I remember it was unbearably hot only for 2-3 months a year, so we used to hire ACs for just these months alone, which turned out to be quite economical especially when shared with 4-5 people :D

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  7. The title got me fooled, thought it was going to be about being 40+ and having fun!!. Anyways, I am.
    I pride myself as having gone through one whole summer in Calcutta without a fan while a student at the Scottish Church College

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  8. Kym - Same thing here. Clouds appear in the sky and you think it's going to rain and you are very happy, but all they ever do is make the air humid leaving you wet with perspiration.

    Kima - Summertime is one time of the year I look forward to going to work. But nothing beats the cool mountain air back home, right?

    dr_feelgood - I have to wait for another decade before I can write about being 40+, and let me say it looks like the forty-somethings are having a lot of fun.

    A whole summer at Calcutta without a fan!! You ought to be awarded the Param Vir Chakra or something. The heat+humidity there is too oppressing, much worse than our Hyderabadi heat+dryness.

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  9. ooh! Kum 40+ ka ni ta i rawn ti dawn emaw ka ti hman a( hehee) I nih ka ring si lova.

    An lum awm em em ve aw!

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  10. I so know what you mean. This heat is driving everyone up the walls. But you know, life has been making me want to shave my head ever since I turned 20. Someday soon I may finally give in and go shave my head really. And in case it makes you feel better, I really believe the rains are hovering somewhere close. Closer than they did same time last year.

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  11. Haha! You have such a way with words.

    This year seems to be extra hot here too.

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  12. Sekibuhchhuak - Lum ve pangngai. Kum 40+ chu la ni lo deuh... mahse kan la dam reng te anih chuan engtik ni ah emaw chuan a la thleng ve ang chu...

    Jerusha - The rains are making an early appearance this year, thank God. And the shaving the head bit, I've always wondered how I would look bald (I think it's kind of like guys wanting to grow their hair). Inthurual ila kan ti thut dawn mi?

    mesjay - Thanks! Let's hope this extra hot turns into extra rains (but no floods please).

    Philo - Thank you, and thanks for visiting.

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  13. Beer is da best cooler he3! Apply it ok, lolz

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  14. Ruahsur chuan khawlai ah lam ru aw...lol

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  15. thiannu khawlum a awm i tan a thra zawk, reilote aizawla ilo haw pawh khan hritlang, khawsik etc neih mai kha... akekekeke.......

    I love the way you write....

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  16. Just back from the south so I know first hand what page you're on. The heat I could deal with, what I couldn't was my insta-sunburn. It's just not convenient slapping on sunblock every which where every 2/3 hours so I'd go scratch scratch scratch practically every evening. Also my ankles kept swelling out of all proportions every time we went out walking around in the heat. I'm so glad to be back home up here in the mountains where while there are some hot days, the air is mostly cool and I don't have to tie up my hair all the time.

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  17. awmi - In khua kha e, a vawt e mai, kan hritlang nghal chur chur mai alawm. Boruak lum hi in duh ve chuan ka rawn thawn ang che u.

    J - I wear sunscreen all the time, except when I sleep. There's nothing like being too careful when it comes to sunburn.

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