On the Weather

Hallelujah I have survived the heat!! Now we shall see if I make it through the monsoon.

It has been raining in Mumbai for the past 48 hours, but apparently this is not the monsoon, rather it is the pre-monsoon showers. What the f%$k!? Though everything is gross and mucky and traffic is backed-up and streets are semi flooded the one good thing I have noticed so far is that it is NOT insufferably hot. Yippee! Dampness aside, it is actually quite pleasant. Who would have thought it!?

I must say though, the peak of the heat (Apr-May) was physically painful, soul draining, and down right nasty. I cannot believe people put up with it year-after-year it really is mutilating. And I had the extreme privilege (sarcasm duly noted I hope) to experience summer heat in four different cities. Ahmedabad was the worst for shear high temperature, but Kolkata was the most disgusting with its lovely mix of high humidity and high temperatures (and my god is it hard to look cute in 40 C and 80% humidity). Thankfully Mumbai was not awful. It was bad, but almost tolerable. I guess there is something to be said for being a coastal town, granted I am no where near any beach like area.

I must say thought, what made all of summer worth it was the mangoes. Yum! Indians do go crazy for their mangoes. With varies species of mangoes touted over others (I honestly lost track of which is supposed to be the King of mangoes). But it is crazy in how many places mangoes appear. Mango Pickle, mango chutney, mango drinks, mango ice cream, mango soy milk! And points go to the non-Indians who knew that paisley prints are an old Indian patterned based on a mango. Does anyone out there know if there is a mango festival that I am missing with a crown mango princess? If there is not one, I think we need to start one. I am thinking food stalls selling deep-fried-mango-on-a-stick.