Two New Yorkers spend six months 18 months!?! in Bangalore and other places in India.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Summer's Coming

Most stores in Bangalore are in the middle of sales right now. That's
because it's almost the end of winter, when it's been in the 60s to 80s
(15-32 C), but mostly in the 80s. Soon it will be "summer", in the 90s
(32-37 C) or more, and you'll be able to get short sleeves in the
stores again. (Although short sleeves ("half sleeves") have been very
comfortable here since I arrived in November, they have not been on
store shelves. It's because it's long-sleeve weather, that's why.)

In the dead of winter, many people wear sweaters or blazers in the
morning, and knit caps ("chilly hats"), and old men wrap thin wool
shawls around themselves. And little kids wear "monkey caps", hats that
cover their whole head except their face. The coldest it's ever been in
Bangalore in the morning is probably around 60 (16 C) or so. (Delhi,
however, does get genuinely cold, right around freezing.)

But summer's right around the corner. Any smiles I may have had at what
seemed like over-reaction to the cold will be more than paid back when
I start sweating within moments of walking out the door. The sun's
power is amazing here.

1 comment:

Nandini said...

I weep for Bangalore's climate of the past. Up until the early 90s, summer temperatures rarely went above 30 degrees, and winters were cool (if not outright chilly by temperate standards) at an average of 20 degrees.

I left in 1994, and didn't return for summer until 2005 - the heat, as you rightly say, is incredible. And it wasn't even as if I was conditioned by temperate latitudes, I live in the very equatorial Singapore.

And the pollution? We used to be the 'garden city', and when they repeat the sorbiquet today all I can do is laugh.

[/rant] sorry.