Feeling hot, hot, hot...

They say that when people don't have much else to talk about, they talk about the weather. However, this is not the reason for my post. Its just that the extreme heat of this Indian summer warrants recording the general feeling about it.

The Mercury has been steadily rising over the last couple of months. Pune has never been this swelteringly hot, and that too, for this long. All over India the temperatures have attained record highs, even if the stocks and the economy have not. For the first time, Pune has seen temperatures in the range of 41 degrees celsius for weeks together. In Maharashtra, the power situation being what it is, load-shedding for upto 3-4 hours makes it difficult to be even inside one's home. Air-conditioning is no more a luxury but a necessity. Same goes for 4-wheelers. I sometimes wonder how we used to play during summer vacations during school days. What has changed in the ensuing years that it is unthinkable to even step out of doors during summers? In some districts, temperatures have ranged from 47-49 degrees, surely not conducive to habitation and life!

All the chores are now governed by the scorching sun. If you can get things done outside the house before 10 AM, great! Else, better to leave only after 6 to do them. The single most essential item I have to carry with me these days is my bottle of iced water. Water parks and swimming pools are packed to the brim in this season. Tourism to hill stations and resorts is booming too, so its not bad news for all.

Its true that we are doing much better financially as compared to the previous generation. However, we seem to be spending most of the dough on cooling our homes, cars and offices. If this is what global warming is all about, its frightening to imagine what our children will be experiencing a generation from now. Perhaps it is not yet too late to bring the earth back to a more tolerable state than it is now.