Summertime in the City

The summer is officially here and it came quickly and without warning. Last week, temperatures reached 42C, which is about 108F! Central and Eastern India are experiencing an early heat wave, with temperatures reaching 45C in some places.

The strain on the power supply is also apparent. Yesterday, our power went out several times for just a few minutes in both the morning and evening (and probably during the day too, but we weren't here to experience it). Fortunately, we have an inverter, so we have some power even during outages (but no AC). But the best part of this is that our internet connection works even when the power's out.

While there are many things I hate about the summer (sweating the moment I walk outside, the ants that appear in my kitchen, power outages), I've decided to focus on the things I love about the summer.

Things I love about summer in India:

- Fresh mangoes, mango juice, mango shakes
- Not having to turn the geyser (hot water heater) on because the sun and heat do it for you

So, that's all I've got for now, but hopefully the list will grow as I prepare to deal with the summer heat. Wish me luck.

Surviving the Monsoon

Most of India is in the midst of monsoon season. Before this summer, I guess I didn't really know what monsoon meant. I thought it was a massive rainstorm, but at least in Delhi it just means that it rains all day, every day. Sometimes the rain is light. Sometimes it comes down in buckets. Either way, it is constantly raining.

Delhi has actually had a poor monsoon this year. There was about a week of straight rain at the beginning of the season. But the past few weeks had been pretty dry, until this week.

This week I learned what monsoon really meant. On Wednesday, I arrived at my office just as the rain started coming down in buckets. I was dropped off right at the front door, but in the 5 seconds it took me to get out of the car and run to the door, I was drenched.

My favorite part of the monsoon mess is how much people LOVE the rain. Here are some monsoon-related conversations I've had recently:

• Don't you just love this weather? You mean pouring rain and brown skies? No.
• The weather is so nice today, we should make plans for the evening. What are you talking about. It's raining like crazy.
• Isn't the weather so nice today? Um, no. Are we looking out the same window?

But one of my colleagues had a good explanation for this difference in thought. A good monsoon means a good harvest. A good harvest is good for the economy. And everyone wants the economy to do well. So therefore, Indians heart the monsoon. Makes sense.

But I still hate the monsoon. Traffic is absolutely horrible in the rains, if you can imagine anything worse than the usual Delhi traffic. Commute times double. And I'm not sure what they use to build roads here, but it seems to dissolve in the rain, leaving giantic potholes for people to attempt to maneuver around.

In any case, I will learn to deal with the monsoon, just like everyone else, and hope that the rains bring a good harvest and that somehow that good harvest puts more money in my pocket.

It's Sizzling

High temperatures in Delhi are now about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I feel like I'm melting whenever I walk outside during the day. Mornings and evenings are bareable, but the daytime heat is just tremendous. I'm not sure what happened and where this heat came from, but the temperatures have skyrocketed this week. It's a little early here for this heat and it doesn't bode well for the upcoming summer months.