The weather, and everyone's health

This morning the weather was a breezy and comfortable 29 degrees C. These days such low temps usually presage rain, and I was terrified of being caught up in another urban planning-meets-poor-weather catastrophe. But I had to work, there was nothing for it. The ten minutes it took to catch an auto are normally a time of sweat and regrets, but today it was almost pleasant. I relaxed under the shade of a spreading tree, waving lethargically and without anxiety.

I got it in and the auto driver quoted me a lower price than I'd have to pay if he went by the meter. Small events like this are enough to convince me of the essential benevolence of the universe, and the beauty of the morning and the cheapness of the ride combined to make me believe that God or Whoemever was smiling down on me.

A crisp and cool wind snapped in through auto's open sides, and I was reminded of Maryland on an autumn morning just after the school year starts. The weather is always like this, gray and overcast. It's just cold enough to get goosebumps while wearing a T-shirt. Weather like this makes me want to walk for miles.

I wondered then how much of my physical discomfort in India has been because of the weather. I'm either drenched or scorched most of the time. If there isn't murky water up to my knees, then the sun blazes down a wrathful 100 degrees F or more. I'm not used to weather like this, and it doesn't feel like home.

The Indians used to mock their British colonial masters (ah, small victories) because the British couldn't hack it in the tropical heat. But if weather is so important that for many people winter qualifies as a mental disorder, why shouldn't it be one of the most unnoticed but telling aspects of spiritual well-being?