we are like this only

Sometimes I think the weather God is a malicious little imp who just waits to see what the Indian met department will come up with before doing just the opposite. We in India have had an inkling of this over the years, so, for instance whenever the met bureau predicts rain we know to leave our umbrellas and raincoats at home and whenever they predict a cold wave, we dig out our bikinis and dust off the sun-beds. But in the last week, they have made even bigger fools of themselves than ever before. It started last week with the Beeb, of all channels, predicting that the current temperature on Tuesday evening was 2.4 degrees C and that it would hit zero within the week. All the Indian media were all over it and the Met bureau issued all kinds of cold front warnings. All schools in NCR declared holidays on Thursday and Friday - only to be greeted with the kind of sunny, warm weather which makes it a delight to be out and about in the winter. The cold wave warnings done with, once Sunday s...

One of the reasons that I love living in Delhi - all right, NCR - despite all its many shortcomings and hassles is the glorious change of seasons. I am a person who likes and revels in change - if things stay the same for too long, I get restless. I'd hate to live in a place where the weather is the same, so you don't know if you're in March or May. Delhi with its four definite seasons and a different mood for every month just suits me. In the winter, Delhi is a different city to the dun-coloured, dust-ridden one it is in the summer. You wake up to an intensely cold morning, and despite having gotten a good nine hours of sleep, it feels like you just went to bed. You burrow into your many layers of thick razais some more, wanting to snatch yet another twenty winks. It's gray outside and so foggy you can barely see the ship building which in summer is like the lighthouse marker to your home. You can see the fluffy angora fog sitting on its haunches on your terrace as you...