I capitulated and switched on the aircon for a bit last night. Assuming you’re alive and reading this, I can sense the frisson of quizzical wonder—what’s capitulating got to do with it? If I’m feeling the heat, I ought to disperse it with the appliance specifically meant to do that. Simple, right? Maybe not. Something in me rebels at the idea of using the AC in March. To be fair, I’ve been thinking about it since February , so yeah, the climate is definitely fucked and will only get worse year on year. Pune winters are already a distant memory , so the idea of holding out is at best an exercise in building resistance , at worst, delusional. As far as I can recall, the heat ratchets up around or after Holi. That was yesterday, so perhaps my resistance was subconscious. Psychobabble aside, I need to get this off my chest— I don’t understand Holi . Sure, I understand the traditional and cultural significance and whatnot, but man, for adults, the celebration should ...
I recently read someone declare Pune’s citizens “traffic illiterate” and was struck by how apt that definition is. I don’t even have to go across the city to confirm the verisimilitude of that observation. In my own hyper-suburban neighborhood, making short trips—by foot, bike, or car—feels like a visceral version of Road Rash , minus the handy chain, bat, protective gear, and other accoutrements that, in all likelihood, I am wont to use liberally. Perhaps not having them is a good thing. Perhaps. I certainly spend some time while riding or driving dreamily considering the benefits of tyre irons, knuckledusters, and the like. Speaking of going halfway across the city, I did just that yesterday. I’d confined? huddled?… well, something-ed myself to the safe cocoon of home for the past couple of weekends, trying to locate paperwork and complete long-pending projects. I wasn’t complaining, mind, but it was brought to my attention that there was a world (the merits of which are deba...