Heat.

         Summer in India is harsh, and overwhelming. First of all, it comes before its time. You wake up one morning finding your shirt sticking to you and the pillow wet.

         The coming of summer is marked by the return of the cooler. Ignored largely during the rest of the year, it makes a grand entry in our house. Ah, the smell of dry khus being watered down by the cooler!

         The cooler might have reduced summer problems by a large margin had it not been for the immensely frustrating frequent power cuts. We never fail to hurl the choicest of abuses at the electricity office. Then it's just the monotonous whirring of the fan, which does little to relieve us of our plight. I shudder to think of the poor man's abode with the roof made of steel and no backup electricity.

         A peculiar thing that happens during summer is that everything seems to have put on a reflective quality. Which is irritating. The houses become too bright, the ground reflects unnaturally. Especially the roads. And God forbid if you are wearing rubber-soled shoes or sandals. Not to mention leaving your bike out in the sun! To say that the seat becomes hot is an understatement. It becomes a freaking furnace. I think all of us have experienced the shifting of the buttocks to counter the heat of the seat, but in vain.

          And then there is the unseasonal rainfall. There is at least once every summer. Instead of being a welcome change, it only adds to our woes. Instead of cooling it down, it makes the ground release its heat into the already burning atmosphere. Yet another reason to hate global warming.

          Let us not forget the majority of Indian couples who decide to wed in the summer. Like, seriously, guys? How can you expect us to enjoy the food at your happy occasion if there are chances of our sweat adding to the salt? If you've never attended a typical khandeshi Muslim wedding, you haven't experience heat. People sitting in close proximity emanating body heat, the sweat trickling down your body , the half-cooked rumali roti/ manda, the mattress littered with food, and the jostling. People have lost weight by sweating at such weddings.

          But summer, thankfully, does not last long. Followed by the lovely and refreshing showers of monsoon, it leaves, only to make us yearn for it in the horrifying dawns of winter!

(Author's note: If someone starts talking about the weather, it's a clear sign he's bored. But please take my post in good humour and leave a review!)