Monsoons Gotta Be Coming Tonight
When the power goes off at work, people either go home or stay around the office and goof around. I went home. These power outages are supposedly common all over India. In some places, there is only 2 hours of power a day. In most places, power outages are scheduled. India is using more power than it can produce. The state in which Mumbai lies, Maharashtra, allows Mumbai to have nearly continuous power. Probably because the city’s power being on is so important to the economy of all of India. The power has never gone off while I’ve been here – until today, that is – but many buildings have diesel generators to ensure the power stays on even during outages. My office apparently has no generator. All the computers and lights, off.
I’m not actually sure the power outage at work today was a rolling blackout. The other offices in the building had power, and my apartment, which is not far from my office, had power. Power went off at around 5, and the lawyers opted to go home.
It was a hot and humid day, so I wasn’t surprised that on a day like this, with a whole city full of air-conditioners running, that electricity demand would exceed supply. I got soaked in sweat walking to work, and after work I came back to my apartment, and felt like doing nothing, except sprawling out as wide as possible to keep plenty of surface area open for the fan to blow the heat off.
A now discredited theory of European-exceptionalism goes something like this: The temperate climates of Europe were more conducive to mental energy and hard work. Therefore, Europeans are smarter and able to subjugate the rest of the world. The rest of the world would be the warmer climes, and the warmer climes create lazy people. When it’s so hot and humid, all you feel like doing is lying around and trying to get cool. You don’t feel like working on anything. Working makes you hotter.
This theory is very politically incorrect, but I felt like a lazy person from a warm clime this evening. I need to buy a frying pan. I needed to get something for dinner. I need dish soap. I need to buy more minutes for my cell phone. I need to explore Mumbai. But it’s too hot to do these things. So I watched tv, and read a book, but I had trouble concentrating because I was so hot and felt like a lazy person, energy drained by the heat.
The heat also inflates my stomach and makes me feel like I can’t eat. All I had for dinner was a mango, an apple, and a chocolate bar. The apple was from Chile. The mango was probably from India, and it was delicious. In the U.S. I think we only get one variety of mango, and here there are dozens. Mine tonight was not one like I’d ever had in the U.S. It had yellow skin, and it was samller. Kind of looked like a pear. A lawyer at work told me Indian mangoes had been banned from the U.S. until this year.
In my kitchen, there was a lizard. I hate animals. The only ones I can tolerate are my and my extended family’s dogs. I don’t even like other people’s dogs, and I definitely don’t want to be living with any lizards. He looked like a gecko, and he was climbing on my wall. He climbed behind my kitchen cabinets, so what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t get behind there and catch him and throw him out. I’m going to be pissed if any lizards get in bed with me. I hate reptiles most of all – or are lizards amphibians? I hate them both. Maybe he was a salamander.
Over the last hour, a stronger breeze has been blowing through my south facing window. Yesterday the monsoons hit Kerala, in the southwest of India. Mumbai is west central. Kerala is just down the coast. I can hear thunder in the distance. I’m pretty sure it’s coming tonight. I’m going to go close all my windows. I don’t know how this monsoon sails into town. Does it bombard like a hurricane? Does it creep in like the night? The thunder is getting closer, and there is lightning in the southern sky.
And it starts raining. There isn’t much storm. It’s just rain. But it is cooler. It’s kind of nice out. What a change. Somewhere in the distance I hear fireworks. Man, my nice work shoes are going to get dirty walking down these now-muddy roads tomorrow on my way to work. My boss showed me that he keeps an extra pair of shoes in his office for the monsoon season. I thought it might have been a joke. I don’t even know where to get golashes in the U.S. Finding them in India could be a real challenge. Today I also read about hundreds dying in Mumbai in monsoon floods a month before Hurricane Katrina.
And after about 10 minutes, it’s just a drizzle, but there’s still a cool breeze. Ten minutes later, it’s more of a downpour. And all along, there is still lightning in the sky. That fucking lizard better not get cozy in my bed – or anywhere else for that matter.
I’m not actually sure the power outage at work today was a rolling blackout. The other offices in the building had power, and my apartment, which is not far from my office, had power. Power went off at around 5, and the lawyers opted to go home.
It was a hot and humid day, so I wasn’t surprised that on a day like this, with a whole city full of air-conditioners running, that electricity demand would exceed supply. I got soaked in sweat walking to work, and after work I came back to my apartment, and felt like doing nothing, except sprawling out as wide as possible to keep plenty of surface area open for the fan to blow the heat off.
A now discredited theory of European-exceptionalism goes something like this: The temperate climates of Europe were more conducive to mental energy and hard work. Therefore, Europeans are smarter and able to subjugate the rest of the world. The rest of the world would be the warmer climes, and the warmer climes create lazy people. When it’s so hot and humid, all you feel like doing is lying around and trying to get cool. You don’t feel like working on anything. Working makes you hotter.
This theory is very politically incorrect, but I felt like a lazy person from a warm clime this evening. I need to buy a frying pan. I needed to get something for dinner. I need dish soap. I need to buy more minutes for my cell phone. I need to explore Mumbai. But it’s too hot to do these things. So I watched tv, and read a book, but I had trouble concentrating because I was so hot and felt like a lazy person, energy drained by the heat.
The heat also inflates my stomach and makes me feel like I can’t eat. All I had for dinner was a mango, an apple, and a chocolate bar. The apple was from Chile. The mango was probably from India, and it was delicious. In the U.S. I think we only get one variety of mango, and here there are dozens. Mine tonight was not one like I’d ever had in the U.S. It had yellow skin, and it was samller. Kind of looked like a pear. A lawyer at work told me Indian mangoes had been banned from the U.S. until this year.
In my kitchen, there was a lizard. I hate animals. The only ones I can tolerate are my and my extended family’s dogs. I don’t even like other people’s dogs, and I definitely don’t want to be living with any lizards. He looked like a gecko, and he was climbing on my wall. He climbed behind my kitchen cabinets, so what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t get behind there and catch him and throw him out. I’m going to be pissed if any lizards get in bed with me. I hate reptiles most of all – or are lizards amphibians? I hate them both. Maybe he was a salamander.
Over the last hour, a stronger breeze has been blowing through my south facing window. Yesterday the monsoons hit Kerala, in the southwest of India. Mumbai is west central. Kerala is just down the coast. I can hear thunder in the distance. I’m pretty sure it’s coming tonight. I’m going to go close all my windows. I don’t know how this monsoon sails into town. Does it bombard like a hurricane? Does it creep in like the night? The thunder is getting closer, and there is lightning in the southern sky.
And it starts raining. There isn’t much storm. It’s just rain. But it is cooler. It’s kind of nice out. What a change. Somewhere in the distance I hear fireworks. Man, my nice work shoes are going to get dirty walking down these now-muddy roads tomorrow on my way to work. My boss showed me that he keeps an extra pair of shoes in his office for the monsoon season. I thought it might have been a joke. I don’t even know where to get golashes in the U.S. Finding them in India could be a real challenge. Today I also read about hundreds dying in Mumbai in monsoon floods a month before Hurricane Katrina.
And after about 10 minutes, it’s just a drizzle, but there’s still a cool breeze. Ten minutes later, it’s more of a downpour. And all along, there is still lightning in the sky. That fucking lizard better not get cozy in my bed – or anywhere else for that matter.
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