Scorching Summer in Germany....

...is what one would assume if you look at the below given picture greeting you in wetter.de

Well, the maximum temperature today is 27 deg C (and this lasts for 3 hours after which the temperature drops to a comfortable 23 or 24 deg C) and to someone used to the Agni Natchathiram* in Chennai and Aandhi** in Delhi, this is really amusing (read, iva podara scene thangala) !

On the other hand though, when this picture turns all blue, thats a real cause for worry...brrrrr....

And finally, I cannot believe I talk about the weather and only the weather in a blog post....note to self: finish incomplete travelogues if you want to retain at least half of your reader base !

* Agni natchathiram refers to the hottest month in Tamilnadu (May)

** Aandhi refers to the dust storm

Snow, snow, go away....

....come again, another day - actually the only day everyone (or atleast I) want snow is on Christmas day, just like we expect it to rain on Diwali !

In the last week of November, the weather in Europe (and of course Munich) took a turn for the worse when Mother Nature decided that the snow should start as early as possible, apparently the earliest in centuries, according to BBC. Since then I have been contending with dressing up like a barrel (If you mention winter fashion now, I swear I will punch you), walking like adi pradakshinam (for fear of slipping on icy roads and losing the few grey cells I have left) and above all doing the thing I hate most – living in a closed heated apartment (now is not the time to remind me of homeless people!). I am sure glad that I don’t have to drive!

For someone who grew up in Chennai in an apartment from which one can see the ocean, closed windows and doors are horrors. I still remember how the evening breeze would rock everything in the living room that amma would make sure that everything that is outside is nailed to the wall or inside a closed showcase! Summer evenings always meant going up to the terrace with cousins and of course with food, a music system, cards, blanket and pillows and we would come back home only when the hot sun woke us up the next morning ! Even during Agni natchathiram, sitting in the balcony was a welcome break from the AC rooms. Now I realize (or rather in the past few years I have realized) how much I had taken the sun for granted. Sorry Surya Bhagwan.

I hate using the heater, no I am not exaggerating, I plainly hate it! It makes me feel suffocated. I usually leave the windows open when I leave for work and when I come home I run the heater for a couple of hours to bring the house to a livable temperature and then I switch it off. Running the heater throughout the night is unthinkable for me. But these last few days have been so cold that the couple of hours are not really enough. Hence I have been playing switch-on-too hot-switch-off-too-cold with the heater and it frustrates me! The only consolation I have is I can still shower in cold water (yes, you can gasp, everyone else has). I have never (really never) showered in hot water and I simply cannot. Even as a baby, I apparently took kindly only to cold water and the habit happily still continues. The first few drops send a shiver down my spine but then the rest really wake me up, shake off the depression from the dull weather and leaves me refreshed. Only the shivering time is now getting longer with the weather getting worser.

I know I have grumbled too much but I had a bad week. Ashok is traveling, am home-sick, had some bad news, some issues at work, got hurt by a friend and all this gets worse when I step out the door and get hit on the face by a blast of cold air. I have new found respect for people in Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska and all other places where 0 deg C is considered warm!

But I am sure it is going to get better this week – my parents’ 30th anniversary coming up closely followed by my Christmas vacation, even this lousy weather can’t take away the Christmas cheer from me….here is some to you too !

Of Jackets and Shoes

I went shopping for a winter jacket today. I saw one in the store and was not sure if it was a fall jacket or if it would work for the negative temperatures in winter too. So I asked the store employee and he tells me it is a ''übergangsjacke" i.e a transition-jacket used to transition from fall to winter. I thought to myself....dey, enna velayadareengla ??

I already have a spring jacket, a fall jacket, a winter jacket (that is close to breathing its last which is why I went shopping) and 2 rain jackets (one of them is a sports jacket for when I go running) and now this fellow comes and tells me that I need a jacket to transition between the seasons, marana kadi ayiten naan !!

Shopping for clothes was one of the toughest things for me when I first came to Germany and choosing what to wear on a particular day, even tougher and no, it was not a girly choice of what will look good on me but it was a much simpler problem on what would make me comfortable. I have worn turtle-neck sweaters to classes and have felt too warm, or just a shirt and have felt too cold. It took me a while to figure out that there was a concept of dressing in ''layers'' (shirt under a pullover under a jacket) and you take them off or put them on depending on the temperature.

What's the deal with everyone wearing black, grey and brown in winter ?? Isn't the depressing weather reason enough to dress up in bright colors ?? There have been many winter days when I have come out of my apartment to go to work and have noticed everyone dressed in black and grey and it always makes me feel like the whole street is going to a funeral. Yes, its easy to decide to buy bright colored pullovers and jackets but difficult to find them since the winter collection in stores hardly ever go beyond the sober colors !

With these problems came another one when I started working. Now apparently besides the seasons, I also had to make sure that I had formal jackets that I can wear to a client meeting or a conference. The client seeing me in an informal jacket for a split second before I take it off (to sit down in a heated room all day) has somehow the powers to put the kibosh on the deal !

For someone who has never seen or owned a jacket until 20 and prefers comfort over fashion, this is frustrating, very frustrating ! But the frustration levels go rocket high when the problem of jackets meets the problem of shoes.

As a teenager, I have read a number of English novels and in all of them there were always allusions to girls being crazy about shoes and having way too many pairs. I never understood that since I always had only 2 pairs (besides the school shoes) and most likely they were both from bata, one the Rs 99.95 slipper that I wore everyday to go out and the other, the Rs.159.95 one that amma made me wear to weddings and other special occasions.

I come to Germany...boom ! I suddenly have a dozen pairs - for different seasons, for different purposes (running, work, casual) and for different costumes (you can imagine how inconvenient boots are with a salwar or a sari) and when I have trouble with these already, there is another huge factor - fashion. Apparently knee-length boots are not a great idea when wearing knee-length skirts. I go ballistic if I hear suggestions like these and I want to shout, ''I don't care, I am comfortable and I like the way I look and you can go jump into the sea for all I care!!!''....

....and then I realised if everyone thought this way, there will be no fashion industry, an industry that spends millions on creating fabrics and style that last one year and are shunned the next and that spends more millions on convincing people about it.....so they gotta do what they gotta do and I gotta do what I gotta do....

...so if you spot someone in a bright red jacket, a bright maroon scarf and wearing comfortable shoes that probably don't match the jeans, on a dull depressing day in Munich, its most likely me :)

I am freezing to death...

...not in the Alps, not in Munich where it has been raining like crazy when its supposed to be spring, but in Delhi, where the outside temperature reads 42 deg C !!

I am freezing to death inside taxis, cars, office buildings, hotels, everyone one of which runs the air conditioner at full blast with the cold air hitting me in the face that it feels like I am skiing and I am using my dupatta as a shield to stop all the goose pimples !! And just when I am all covered up, I end up leaving the place and stepping outside means being hit by a heat wave, which seems all the more hot because of the freezing temperature inside.

Will someone please explain to me the logic behind spending or rather wasting all this energy in a place where power cuts are not uncommon ??

I long for those days when I roamed Mountroad in the hot sun, window shopping and stepped into HigginBothams (on the pretext of browsing books to buy) purely for the AC !

Oh..dear...have I now turned into one of those NRIs that complain about the present and reminisce about the past ??!

Respect the blizzard !

Makkale, if you haven't already seen the news, Germany is preparing for a blizzard ! There have been several warnings and instructions to prepare for it. You can find them here (in German).

Although it is not predicted to be as bad as in the UK, transport, electricity supply etc. will get affected. So take this seriously....it is nothing like getting wet in the rain in South India and coming home to change and having something hot to get better !

- If you have travel plans and if you can avoid it, do so. Most airports and railway stations are announcing delays, so chances are that you are going to be late anyway, so why not postpone the trip from the comfort of your home ? The same goes for driving ! All roads are going to be icy and the supply of salt is ''stretched''....so don't take chances.

- If you have no groceries at home, shop as soon as day breaks and don't wait until 7:30pm, chances are that shops may close early. Stock up on ready-to-eat food as well. Don't forget any medicines that you regularly need (esp. when the weather gets bad like if you have a sinus or asthma problem that worsens with the weather !)

- Cook some food for the weekend tomorrow, if there is no supply you will have no electric stove...duh ?! Fill up a couple of bottles (or more) with water or stock up on a few litres of water as well.

-Charge your mobile phones, laptops and anything that you cannot live without even for a few hours (:D) now

- Pass this info on to your friends and add any tips that I have skipped.

Don't mess with Nature, Stay warm, Stay safe !

Copyright for picture

http://blogs.davenportlibrary.com

At the register office...

....a very close friend of mine got married today. He sent me an invitation last week (oh..men!!) but I somehow managed to take the day off, make sure Ashok's travel plans were right and purchase a good gift.

The day began with a -2 deg C temperature and rain and as the day progressed, it started snowing too. Such weather calls for warm clothes, pullovers, jackets, scarves and whatnots....all in sober colors and I was thinking 'But its a wedding....' and that deserves bright colors, fancy clothes with a festive touch. The weather lost the battle and we got dressed in style, the wedding style - me in a bright salwar that you can spot from a mile away and Ashok in a suit.

After a train and taxi ride, when we reached the Rathaus (city hall), it was all so quiet that I suspected that we were at the wrong place...although I knew it was going to be a simple affair, I think I was expecting some sort of 'wedding indication' like flowers in the entrance or people waiting or some form of hulchul. On looking for the register office, we found a room and we finally heard voices and were greeted by a room with 18 people, with the bride and groom sitting in the front row and the registrar sitting at a table with a flower bouquet on it.

The wedding lasted 10 minutes (the shortest wedding I have ever been to!) - 5 minutes of oration by the registrar, 5 min for saying 'I do', exchanging rings and kissing the bride. Afterwards, champagne was offered to everyone and then we moved to a restaurant in the neighbourhood for lunch. Since this was the first time we were meeting the friend's family, time was spent in introductions and the rest discussing the usual questions about India (cuisine, yoga, bollywood, Indian weddings, clothes, languages) and about our stay in Germany/Europe....it was fun since every time at least one of them comes up with an unusual/awkward/embarassing question that always ends up being funny.

After some excellent ravioli, came out the dessert....9 different cakes !! The groom's mother, sister and cousin had all baked cakes. Although I am not fond of cakes and I rarely take more than a bite (just for being polite), I had 2 pieces and they were absolutely sumptuous ! If you click on the photo, you will see what I mean.

Espresso followed the cakes and then came the hugs, wishes and the goodbye.

Here are some things I saw, that I know would completely shock/astonish anyone back home....maybe this will change....well..who knows...
- The whole celebration lasted 4 hours.
- 20 people were invited to the wedding.
- The groom offered to pick us up for the wedding (and I vehemently denied it!)
- The bride's mother was not there (She lives in another country and does not have a passport to travel).
- The bride was wearing a simple black dress.
- No official photographer was present.
- There was no music.

but....there were big smiles on everyone's face, tears in the mother's eyes, the bride turned red when she was kissed, the siblings dutifully arranged all the cakes that they had painstakingly baked the previous day, another was running around with a digicam and a handycam, friends had traveled without giving a second thought to weather or work....Yes, a wedding is always a Wedding :)!

Blame it on the Weatherman !

Do you know the first question that anyone asks when you suggest
- a weekend trip ?
- having a barbeque outdoors ?
- going out for a run or a game of table tennis ?

or to make it simpler do you know the first question that I get when I call home or one of my colleagues in another office - what is the WEATHER like ?

I am always shocked at how big a role weather plays in running my life....!! When I was back home, in South India, weather was a non-entity. At best or rather at worst, it would rain and getting wet in the rain was one of the fun things to do and so no one worried about it. I still vividly remember how all of us waddled through knee-deep water with our raincoats to reach ‘Devi-paradise’ to see ‘Vaijainthi IPS’ - this was 15 years ago. It was one of the most heavy downpours South India had ever seen and even that did not make us alter our plans…..when you come from such a city and suddenly start living in a city where even going out for a walk is done only after querying weather.com, it is only a little short of bewildering !

Along the same lines, I used to think that talking about the weather is probably the worst form of small talk there is but now I do it everyday.

Weather deciding your routine is directly proportional to how much it fluctuates. In my home town, temperatures are always between 25 and 38 deg C with maybe a couple of exceptionally ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ days. But when the weather fluctuates between -20 and +40 deg C, you know you are doomed to check weather.com as often as you check emails. If you don’t, one or more of the following will happen (or has already happened to you)
- you are wearing a turtle-neck pullover and sweating like crazy (this is fun especially if you happen to be at work)
- you are wearing sandals and walking in the snow (times when you think about the laws of physics !)
- Inspite of your fighting spirit, you just lost your very-recently-purchased umbrella to the wind (and not to mention the torrential downpour that follows – Murphy’s Law!)

I actually really admire moms (or dads), who take their kids out to the park or for a walk, with their rucksacks packed with everything needed for any kind of weather, sometimes in addition to the swim or ski equipment they carry !! I try to follow this too….it should be pretty clear what happens since I said ‘try’

When you travel a lot, chances are you should be prepared not only to combat a jet-lag but also a ‘weather-lag’!

……and inspite of all this how can one not enjoy the the first snow, the fall colors, the spring blooms and if enjoying all this beauty means dealing with layers of clothing and other man-made contraptions to fight the weather, then so be it ! And there is this sense of accomplishment when you go running inspite of the rain, come home drenched and look outside thinking ‘if that was a fight between me and the weather, I won :D’