How Is The Weather Where You Are?

Here, 85 and boring, with scattered periods of dullness. Tomorrow, a distinct chance of Nothing New.

In NA, the weather is a topic you can discuss with anyone anytime. Many jokes abound about weather in NA. "The best thing about the weather here is it is always changing.", "Don't like the weather, wait a hour." In India, however, no one ever talks about the weather...ever. This is probably because nothing ever changes, it gets hot in the afternoon, cools a little in the evening, if it is not the rainy season, it doesn't rain, no matter how humid it gets, it still does not rain. It doesn't even get cloudy, just hazy. They do not even have a Weather Section in the Newspaper, the most I have ever seen is a Special Interest piece if something very unusual happens, like when it went to -4C in Delhi in December.My arrival coincided with the end of rainy season, maybe they talk about the weather during the rainy season and they are all talked out when it ends.

I am here for the "Not Summer" Season, it is still hot and humid during the day but it cools off nicely to the High 60's/Low 70's at night. For a local this is "bolt the windows closed" temperature but for me it is just right. Fortunately, I am scheduled to leave just as Summer begins so I will not need to experience the worst of the weather, although here they say that the Rainy Season is the worst season. Personally, I will take the rain over the heat but having never been in a Monsoon, I probably don't have the right  perspective. Mumbai is Central West India at approx 19 degrees latitude, near the north border of the Subtropics. So there is still a lot of country South of here which would be actual tropics and land to the North which will experience four Seasons and even snow.

I never thought about how much I would have talked about the weather on any given day until I never talked about it. Even if I bring up the weather as a conversation starter here, "Seems cooler today than yesterday." If I get a response at all, it never goes beyond "Oh, yes". Without the weather to talk about, my chances at small talk are gone. I find that I usually sit in silence when I am waiting for my driver, then while he is driving me to work, then in the elevator, then in the pantry at lunch, then on the drive back to the hotel. Not because of a lack of language but the inability to start a conversation without the weather as a transitional topic.

Try to think of how many conversations you have each day that in the Winter start with: "Boy, it is cold out there today!" or "Cold enough for you?". In the Spring, "Do you think it will rain?", "I wonder if it will be a short Spring". What about the Summer? "Man, will it ever cool down around here?" or "Hot enough for you?". Finally the Fall, "The leaves are beautiful this year." or "I wonder if we will get an early snow." Now try to imagine NOT starting a conversation with a reference to the weather. "How is it outside?", "Do I need a coat?", "I gotta go sweep off my car.", "Well, I better bundle up before I go." Try to go through one day without talking about the weather, I doubt if you can. I still talk about the weather every day, I just don't do it with Indians, I do it with my NA friends and my NA family.