Of Weather Reports

Remember this lady?

The Weather lady on Doordarshan? She and I share a special bond. For the longest time, in my devious mind, weather and temperatures were the only measures of comparison between cities. And when I talk cities, I obviously always mean Delhi Versus the hometown, Hyderabad.

The rules in my teeny-tine 6 year old brain were very clear.

Rule 1: In summer, check the Maximum temperature. It has to be high.

Rule 2: In winter, check the Minimum temperature. It has to be low.

So like a small little chameleon, I would hang around the TV at 08:20 pm and wait for this beautiful lady to make an appearance and show the magic numbers. In summers, she would pronounce Delhi to be hot at 44 degrees. And then the map would gradually pan South and she would gracefully point to Hyderabad and say 34 degrees. In my head, Delhi won! We had the higher number and so we won! No matter that we would be under a heat reel with loos blowing and not a bit of relief. No matter that coolers were ineffective unless you virtually put your head inside the huge thing and risked getting your head chopped off by the loud fan. Delhi won because 44 > 34.

In winters, my eyes would shift to the minimum temperatures. Wearing 3 layers of sweaters and too cold to even take my hands out of the gloves, I would sit in a corner and stare at the TV at 08:20 pm. The lady would appear and talk about the "Sheet lehar" or cold wave in the North and with shaky fingers point towards a chilling 3 degrees in Delhi. And then the map pans South and there it is. Hyderabad at a pleasant minimum of 18 degrees. Hmmmppphhh. We won again! So what if getting up in the mornings is a punishment. So what is I cant see my school bus from behind the fog. We won because 4 < 18.

That was my story 18 years ago. And would you believe it if I said that's still my story? :-O

I still compare extreme temperatures and laugh a little evil laugh to myself..Why, you may ask.

Its actually a genetic problem. Stay with me on this one. So my grandmother, it seems, has a similar fetish with weather. She goes all the way to London to stay with my Uncle and stands at the window staring at the incessant snow fall and sigh, "Hyderabad is also this cold. Maybe a bit colder in the extreme winter months."

So, you see, I don't blame myself. :D

Anyway, why all this ballyhoo? Point is, I just landed in Delhi after a super-awesome beach trip along the whole South-East coast and a few days in Hyderabad. And while the weather there was delicious, a part of me cringed every time I saw news about the Heat Wave in Delhi.

And when I landed here, the Flight crew announced politely that the outside temperature was 44 degrees. At 7 pm in the Evening!

The others winced and I smiled. Touche.

I need to get myself tested, methinks. :-/

*Kissing the ground*

I love you, Delhi!

Hyderabad, you are a pleasant city. It takes immense guts for me to even say that. You really are pleasant. But guess what, you are not Delhi! Forgive me for not ever loving you! :)

Cheers!