Seasonal Delights

 Jamun, and Mango, summer delights. Mangoes come in infinite varieties and sizes.

Ice apple, called Tadgola - a palm fruit, in the summer.

Corn, fresh, in the monsoon? Remember eating roasted bhutta on the way to Mandu on the roadside. 

Strawberries are also seasonal, probably during the rainy season or winter.

Guavas are also seasonal, in July August.

Hurda, the raw grain (usually jowar), roasted, is available in winter months. Eaten with jaggery and spice, it's delicious.

Long Winter and Flowers

Did not imagine Kolkata would have such a long winter, but it does. Temperatures at night are down to 12-13 for a month now. Anyway, some outings and innings (used for a look in-house) showed  some good sights, and pleasant temperatures in the daytime helped.

Winters and Summers

 There are winter people and there are summer people. I like the Monsoons.. just kidding. 

Generally, I hate cold weather. Maybe because I spent my early life in Hot Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), with hardly any winter.

But I now see the bright side of winters (!), having survived horrible weather- humidity in Kolkata and a mix of many things in Delhi. Winter brings solace to tortured souls from those horrible times.. even if some extreme lows test your soul.

The U.S. of course had snowy winters too, but indoors, the heaters took care of it. Only the bills rocketed.

The only road accidents I had in the U.S. were because of ice on the road. One was bad, but we survived! And the car was rented, so it was OK..

Sweating through the Summer is now fairly OK, if it's a dry season.

Kodaikanal and Coimbatore

 Kodaikanal and Coimbatore visit happened. Met Dhanapal, and took off for a golf trip. A unique AirBnB in Kodai was beautifully located, and the winter views in the hills were amazing.. a sample.

From the front door of the cottage- Whispering Waters.

Silver Cascade falls.

A dam on the river Varthaman.

Winters and I

 I hate winters, in general. The worst ones I remember were at Delhi and Lucknow, during my stay there. I barely survived.

But good things can happen in winter too. You can snuggle under your quilt, endlessly drink cups of spiced tea, or brandy to keep the cold away, have New Year/Christmas parties, or sit and brood- not necessarily a good thing, depends on what you brood about.

You can always go to places that have no winters- like Chennai, Mumbai, or any coastal places. 

Snow is good from a distance, if you are warm and cozy. 

Summer Versus Winter

People have their preferences for seasons, like they have for Democrats or Republicans. But for me, summer is a clear winner-winter, the loser. I shall give you five good reasons-

1. Summer is pro-poor. You don't need a lot of clothes to protect yourself, and the poor can sleep at night even in the open, if there's no shelter. Trees can help in the daytime.

2. Winter makes you want to curl up in bed. Summer creates animal spirits that spur exploration, entrepreneurship...hiber-nation versus a Hyper nation, you see?

3. Mango is the King of fruits..and it comes out in Summer..the U.S. has no mangoes, in most parts.

4. Have you ever tried swimming in cold sea water? I have, and trust me, it's no fun.. Goa, it's summer-like even in Winter. Any arguments?

 5. And the clincher- you can eat ice cream without fear of catching a cold. Isn't that a great plus?

Cool Runnings- Film Review

A film about the Olympics and Jamaica, that is fun to watch. Made in 1993 or so, it is about a Jamaican sprinter who fails to make it to his country's athletics team due to an accidental tripping during trials. Desperate to go to the Olympics, he is told about an American maverick who lives in Jamica. He is a former Bobsledding champion, and has a theory that sprinters would make good Bobsledders. Never gets to test his theory though, because sprinters aren't convinced.

So our hero begs him to coach him and 3 fellow athletes-a ragtag team of Bobsledders- for the Winter Olympics. Everybody laughs them out, including their Olympic Association Chief, and potential funders, but somehow, they make it to the Olmpics, and compete, in their own unique style.

It's a fun, uplifting movie, and good to watch if you can get hold of it. The typical West Indian spirit comes through unmistakably.

Bengaluru Summer

I was in Bangalore for the IMT Ghaziabad alumni meet. This is a part of a series of meets across all major cities in India, done once a year as part of our outreach. The IIMs have also recently started this tradition, and it is a great way to keep in touch with alums. We did this at Nagpur with our alumni too.

However, the interesting part of this visit was that Bangalore had a high of 26 degrees or so, while Delhi had a max of 11 and min. around 3 degrees when I left. Not very different, as I can see now.

Anyway, I had three different alumni meets, while there. Met a few of my classmates of IIMB, and talked about our impending Tees Saal Baad in a couple of years. Also, met an alum of PESIT who works for VF Corp, the brand owners of a few well-known garment brands-Lee, Wrangler among them. She has kept in touch through these years, and it was great meeting again.

All in all, a nice summer outing out of freezing Delhi.

Delhi Winters

 It was a cool 7 degrees Celsius when I landed in Delhi at 9 am the other day. The change of season brings about significant change in behavior among Delhi-ites. The sweaters are out, and the shawls, mufflers and jackets. The first time I lived in Delhi in the 80s, I thought the city was full of corporate executives in winter. But I quickly discovered that it was winter 'jackets' rather than components of a corporate suit that everyone was wearing.

The vegetables start looking fresher, and are definitely cheaper. Particularly cauliflower, carrots and green peas. The fruit basket also looking richer in quality and variety. You start craving pakodas and other fried stuff even if you are not pregnant. You also start craving sunlight, which you hated not too long ago. It is nice to warm yourself under the rays of the 'mother of all lights', to use a Bush-like turn of phrase.

Hibernation seems like a good option to people with 'sunny dispositions' like me. A good brandy is kept handy to deal with sudden 'global freezing' at your doorstep. More potatoes are found on the couch (and under the quilts) than usual.

Winter Sets in

Winter has set in at Nagpur, roughly at the time it does every year. I am reminded of some of the winters in my earlier life. Nagpur winters are mild by comparison.

One I will remember vividly for a long time was in Kashmir. I had visited with my parents and sister in 1978, and we stayed on the Dal Lake, in a houseboat. Not a great idea, in retrospect. That night was one hell of a cold night, and two or three rugs were not enough! I think my dad had to save me by lying on top of the quilts for a while to add to their warmth. There were no heaters on the boat!

Another similar night was at The Grand Canyon, USA, one winter. This time, I saved myself with some brandy, I think. There were several cold nights in the US, during my stay of 5 years. One visit to New York during winter holidays, we stayed indoor to beat the cold, the entire time!

Once at the IIM Lucknow campus, it was around zero degrees for almost a week, and gave me the jitters. Wonder how the nawabs coped with it.

A recent visit to Leh also saw us cold, but in summer. Nights were cold as cold can get. But we were prepared, and coped reasonably well.

I shudder to think of the homeless and what they might be enduring at such times. Thank God for our home and hearth!