So where've you been? 31 Mumbai: Heat Haze
I scheduled myself a week in Mumbai, with no further plans, to see if I could handle the heat before I made any more decisions.
India has three seasons: The Cool, The Hot and The Wet.
This is the last three or four weeks of The Hot, before the monsoon kicks in, and the contents of the sewers float up to greet you.
I had a taste of it in Kolkata, when I first got there - and found that at 43 degrees centigrade, I vomit frequently.
Didn't want to repeat that. So my previous plans, to go north, to the hottest part of the country, to the deserts of Rajasthan, were shelved. Put off slightly while I sat and saw if I could handle the heat in Mumbai.
I've learnt that I'm going to overheat whatever I do, it just makes it worse to hide behind air conditioning. That the early thirties is too hot for you to function between mid afternoon and late evening.
If it hits the mid thirties, you can scratch doing anything between noon and eleven pm. That your eyes don't really open - you miss things. That you need eight cool showers a day to keep going. That salt-sugar solutions don't restore you, they make it possible to stagger to the nearest rickshaw/taxi. That transport will give you a breeze, in the same way that positioning your face above a hot toaster gives you a breeze. That AC is not a refuge. That humidity levels are way way more important than temperature. That lying under a fan for the eight hours a day when movement is denied you is impossible levels of boring.
I've learnt to sleep at thirty degrees (and that at these temperatures, just two degrees can feel like a huge switch into unbearable), with just a fan. Not happily, but I can sleep. I've learnt how much humidity counts - as the monsoon approaches from the south east, the humidity soars. By now, the locals in Mumbai are referring to it as unbearable.
I'm too bored to do anything but bite the bullet and go touring Gujarat and Maharashtra despite the swelter. It was that or go home - I'm serious. It's that hot that I would give up and leave early.
I shan't. I'm too stubborn for that.
Yet.
But: any tips? On dealing with heat? The humidity? Any tips for a pasty-skinned coward?
Edit:
India has three seasons: The Cool, The Hot and The Wet.
This is the last three or four weeks of The Hot, before the monsoon kicks in, and the contents of the sewers float up to greet you.
I had a taste of it in Kolkata, when I first got there - and found that at 43 degrees centigrade, I vomit frequently.
Didn't want to repeat that. So my previous plans, to go north, to the hottest part of the country, to the deserts of Rajasthan, were shelved. Put off slightly while I sat and saw if I could handle the heat in Mumbai.
I've learnt that I'm going to overheat whatever I do, it just makes it worse to hide behind air conditioning. That the early thirties is too hot for you to function between mid afternoon and late evening.
If it hits the mid thirties, you can scratch doing anything between noon and eleven pm. That your eyes don't really open - you miss things. That you need eight cool showers a day to keep going. That salt-sugar solutions don't restore you, they make it possible to stagger to the nearest rickshaw/taxi. That transport will give you a breeze, in the same way that positioning your face above a hot toaster gives you a breeze. That AC is not a refuge. That humidity levels are way way more important than temperature. That lying under a fan for the eight hours a day when movement is denied you is impossible levels of boring.
I've learnt to sleep at thirty degrees (and that at these temperatures, just two degrees can feel like a huge switch into unbearable), with just a fan. Not happily, but I can sleep. I've learnt how much humidity counts - as the monsoon approaches from the south east, the humidity soars. By now, the locals in Mumbai are referring to it as unbearable.
Rajasthan is about 45 degrees right now. It's a heatwave like nothing they've seen in years. 31 people have dropped dead of heat exhaustion (of course! didn't I tell you about the curse?).But it's so-o-o-o tedious to have just five or six hours a day where you can move. My activities are circumscribed by taxis, fans and the amount of shade available.
Rajasthan is Out Of the Picture.
I'm too bored to do anything but bite the bullet and go touring Gujarat and Maharashtra despite the swelter. It was that or go home - I'm serious. It's that hot that I would give up and leave early.
I shan't. I'm too stubborn for that.
Yet.
But: any tips? On dealing with heat? The humidity? Any tips for a pasty-skinned coward?
Edit:
It occurred to me I'll never be this (suddenly, forcibly) acclimatised again.
Fuckit. I'm going to the Great Thar Desert.
posted by Lectrice at domingo, mayo 14, 2006
4 Advice:
Have you considered Goa? The temperature might not be better, but you can lie under a parasol on the beach while you drink salty lemonade and contemplate what kind of seafood you should have for dinner.
my only tip: nz is delightfully nippy at this time of year. meet me in auckland and we'll both gatecrash michelle's place...
Soren, you are the 350th person to recommend this. Yesterday, 5 different people recommended Goa to me. (I don't know why my not going to Goa causes such ructions?)
In response, it depends on when I go to Diu island - if I do that first, as I'd intended, Goa will be monsooned out by that point - the temperatures will be easier, but the parasol will need to be watertight, and the rising stench from the drains will also need consideration.
I'll think about it!
Frogstar: oh boyyyyyyyyy, that's too tempting.....
Well... obviously I am not going to suggest that you come to DK considering the amount of social, political, natural etc havoc that you bring along :-o
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