“As hot as hell!” This idiomatic simile may be part of the many myths associated with hell (as no one has returned to confirm or reject those), but it absolutely serves its purpose when describing Indian summers. They are harsh. They lack warmth. Their soaring temperatures know no temperance. If the mythical hell is all about burning, Indian summers can be your preparatory school. On top of it, if you are blessed to be living on a plateau some 300 meters above sea level, perfectly placed on the hotter side of the tropics, you are in for a perfect roast. My little, big city of Nagpur tucked right in the heart of the nation, is baking right now! We, the people of Nagpur, otherwise available in the shades of ivory, vanilla, cream, beige, apart from the usual browns of almond, honey, walnut, caramel, cinnamon, chestnut and coffee, are presently crisp bronze, red and mahogany.

 

You see, the beautifully temperate adjective of ‘sun-kissed’ is not taken as romantically in this part of the world. The May Sun, thanks to its ferocity, does not allow any such flirtation. The denizens of my city, never a fan of purdah, naqabs and ghunghat, have been forced to cover their faces and wrap those tight, if they are to resist any ‘sun-kissed’ experience. In its defence, I must say, the gregarious sun is also generous and righteous in its dispensation of light. For, it does not discriminate between genders, religions and races. Its scorch is omnipresent. So, you see, people irrespective of their religion, class and even those who go by the divine-incarnate designation of ‘Man’ also indulge in the ‘purdah’ if only to beat the heat. You might mistake our growing stretches of roads and ever-growing traffic on those roads on a hot summer afternoon as a sign of “….Ummm., they are used to the heat.” That won’t be entirely wrong but not absolutely right either.

 

One knows how to accommodate 41 degrees of hot climate, 45 is a bit too much. Though one has to greet summer every year, one is not quite used to its ever-increasing rage, particularly when most of the traditional defences have been broken. You might see labourers working beneath harsh sun braving hot weather and say “…well, they are used to it.” Yes… but not quite. Heat sizzles everyone alike. However, as they have already experienced cold human indifference, to them hot sun can’t be any harsher. Besides, our city has committed itself to development. We are into the business of a lot of widening and stretching and making and breaking and redoing and redecorating. There are stretches of roads which are in the process of being remade. You see, perfection requires repeated attempts. You may find some parts of our city, quite dug-up and workers toiling even in harsh summer. Well, you see ours is a commitment to ‘hole-istic’ development and that requires a lot of hard work. We are going the w(hole) extra mile. You may see youngsters, all wrapped up, moving at great speed and say how resilient they must be to high temperatures! Oh! They are. Resilient.

 

Quite resilient to hot weather, rules of traffic, red light, complaining elders…Oh boy! They are resilient. Some of them, however, had a different resilience to prove. They were asked to march out of their homes, brave extreme-hot, sizzling climate, to appear for a competitive exam. Well, if they intended to become doctors, they better treat themselves first and prove their hardiness to a gruelling career in medicine. A fair ask, I say. Now, Now, Now….if you are inclined to show me different examples of how fabulous cities manage their problems and how they have devised methods to beat the heat or whatever adversity climate change or even unruly heads of states have put on them, let me tell you our administration and leaderships are doing that too. Didn’t you see the green net ahead of all traffic signals so that commuters waiting for the signal to turn green don’t get roasted red-hot while the sign is still red? “Cut full-grown trees and then put green nets?,” you say? “Cut trees in a city which reports above 45-degree temperatures every summer,” you question? Well…, it may feel like a twisted logic at first but we have our reasons for sure. You see my city is witnessing an infrastructure push. A little disturbance to the intra-structure (our natural defences) is okay. We must keep the big picture in mind.

 

Big buildings, wide roads, flyovers…a bigger city! Concrete jungle, you say. A jungle, nevertheless, it is, albeit lesser green. How will we reverse climate change and fight harsher summers? Well, we have spent quite a good deal of money on vertical greening. You may not see them as much as the money spent but they are there in some streets – a visual treat, I say. A symbol of our twisted logic…oops nay…commitment to reversing climate change. So, if you are in my city in this fine month of May, and wonder where are we heading! Forward, I would say. Vast roads, vertical greens, green net…definitely forward. If at all, you venture outside on a fine sun-soaked afternoon, the administration has some good advice for you.

 

Well, its primary advice is to remain indoors but since you too, like most Nagpurians, love to give your resilience a try, our administration has asked you to stay hydrated. However, that alone does not work. You must hide your face in a dupatta to save yourself from the kiss of the sun which may end up giving you a deep mahogany tan. Touch anything – the brakes of your vehicle, car seats, grills, railings etc, with a readiness to quickly let it go. For, as soon as you do that, you are bound to curse. That’s ok. You can curse. We don’t mind anything as mildly hot as that. Our resilience works till around 45 degrees Celsius, when it begins to be as hot as hell. n