Did someone say it was Hot?

May 25, 2010

Let’s investigate the concept of Hot, shall we?

Tropical heat…as the sun bears down on you, light-headedness follows.  You can sense the sun’s tendrils penetrating your scalp and skin, sucking all moisture out of your body.  For me it starts with the feet, which become paper-like in their texture and seem to torture the rest of my body with their whining.  My skin becomes brittle, as it it might easily peel off or break.  The moisture emanating from body does little to assuage my dermis.  Any bit of shade is an oasis of desire, but shade is deceptive.  It is a thin tissue between you and the determined sun.

Perspiration… the sitting room of my house, though comfortable, is a sauna in the daytime.  The overhead fan pushes the heat down and about.  The movement of the air is glorious, but the heat remains. I sweat.  I don’t move, but I sweat.  If I move, I sweat more.  My clothes stick, my skin shimmers with a fine layer of salty water.  My scalp is drenched, making my hair a stiff, brittle bush by morning.

Shower…after a refreshing bucket bath, I do not dry.  Towel off and a wet residue remains from the heat.  I need to dance around in the air-conditioned bedroom to truly dry out and off.

Spicy…a good South Indian meal is hot, but my good neighbors and friends work hard to keep the spiciness mild, so as not to assault my weak constitution raised on too much bland American food.  I avoid the pickled everything (well, almost everything…Cornflakes aren’t pickled), but occasionally serve myself a spicy soup or vegetable dish.  Even mixed with rice, I need to pause occasionally to breath and sweat some more.  When your body is struggling in the heat, the added spice is almost too much for my head, which is desperately trying to cool itself with a damp layer.

Concrete…I visited a series of temples one day, as research for my project.  You do not wear shoes in the temple.  Of course, I decided to visit the temple in the late morning.  At each stop, we left our slippers in the car, instead of depositing them in the shoe receptacle located near the temple entrance.  Instead of walking about the temple area, enjoying the various sites, I had to hop about, scouting the nearest shaded areas as the concrete ground was aflame and my feet could stand about 3 seconds of contact.  One Temple, called Vadapalani—dedicated to Murugan—had a little running water trough right at the main entrance way.  It is apparently a new thing (so I understand) so you can wash your feet before entering.  Well, you can imagine what I did as I left. A little cooling tootsie dip.

Drenched…The few times I have braved wandering outside during the day for any sustained period of time, I end up quite wet and very amazed that I see few other people so drenched.  How have these people figured out how not to sweat so profusely? When I take my backpack off, I have new stripes on my shirt…temporary darkened ones.

And so ends the lesson on Hot.