The weather

In the past we had always been smart about timing our travels to Chennai (formerly Madras) in January-March. We were glad to get out of there by March because it started to get very hot. Well, due to really high ticket prices we decided to try to go in the Summer. That is also Nitara's healthiest season. Her health issues make it hard to go anywhere in the winter.

Well I just looked up the temperatures for summer in Chennai. The high is around 100 F up to 110. The lows are in the 80's. Being from the Phoenix area, this is not such a bad prospect, considering our highs are upwards of 115 and our lows are in the 90's. However we have a dry heat. We hardly sweat in the summers. We just huddle down in our central air environments and venture out to the swimming pools and water parks. In Chennai most people don't have central a/c and our in-laws are no exception. The best we can hope for is those little window units. During the day there is one room that has one going so we can cool off, but we must still brave the heat in the kitchen and main parts of the house. At night all the rooms can run the a/c units, mercifully.

What is going to be our downfall, I think, is the humidity. It averages 61% with highs on some days at around 75%. I am not good with humidity. The kind where you take a shower and then soon after you dry off, you wondered why you bothered. The people there will cover themselves in talcum powder. I experienced a hint of this in March.

Okay so now let's talk about mosquitoes. Mosquitoes think I'm candy. I can just see them doing little high-fives the minute I get into town. Last time I went to India I covered myself with Odomos and as long as I remembered to do that, I managed. One horrible night I forgot to cover my feet with it before bedtime. The next morning I had about 50 bites on both feet! Yes, I counted. In V's house they don't use nets because they are too troublesome. Instead they close the doors and windows at 4PM. It is when the mosquitoes come out for the night to prey on victims. It is also the time when tne sea breeze comes in. So the choice is get cool sea breeze and be eaten alive, or roast and sweat.

Mosquitoes in India means malaria season. We are going to take our malaria pills with us, but I'm still not sure if we will be taking them in a preventive manner or just waiting to see if we get it. Most people there just wait until they get it, take the pills, hang out for a week or two in bed, and are fine. But do I want to spend my trip hanging out in bed with a malaria fever in the 75% humidity? Hmm. . those pills don't sound so bad after all.

The one plus is that mosquito season is also mango season! And V's family has a huuuuuge mango tree growing outside their front door. It's like a little ecosystem with squirrels, monkeys, parrots and other birds. Its trunk is wide enough that it would take about 6 people to encircle it by holding hands. The tree shades three different houses. In the summers I am told that there is a constant thud of mangos falling off the tree and hitting the roof. The monkeys have a feast. Amma and Appa (my IL's) hire some men to come and pick as much as they can. There is mango ice cream and other treats for about two months during the summer. They give them away to the neighbors and sell the rest.

The last three times I went, I wore traditional salwar kameeze outfits. I had not yet mastered saris enough to wear them without feeling like the whole thing was about to fall apart on me. The "salwars" were nice in some ways. Pretty. But they were also kinda hot. And those darned dupattas kept falling off of me until I tied them unconventionally around my waist or just ditched them and waited for the tongues of the elderly woman in the house to click their tongues.

Since I have hit my 30's I am finding I no longer care as much what others think. I do what's comfortable and right for me, as long as it doesn't actually hurt anyone. I have decided to pack mostly western summer clothes. I mean, in the Phoenix heat the less clothes the better and this heat is gonig to be worse in some ways. So I'm going to pack a lot of shorts, tshirts, and capri pants and hope that I have the guts to wear them once I'm there. They will be modest by our standards but still pretty immodest by the standards of the more traditional folks.

Of course I can't talk about the weather without mentioning the tsunami and how it hit the beaches of Chennai suddenly. I walked on those beaches with my baby daughter last time we were there. I bought vegetable fritters wrapped in a newspaper cone, shot bee bee guns and balloons in a game (the vender refused to let me play more than twice because I shot up all the balloons! ha!), saw the kiddie rides, the beach horses. One terrible day, the ocean claimed them all. Gone in the blink of an eye. Chennai is recovered now and moving on. But I can't help but to wonder, as I stare that beach photo from my last trip, how many of these people were swept away?