Home Sweet Home

More like an inferno! Was it always this hot? It’s not like we are flying in from the North Pole, we were in Spain, we were melting there, how can it be that much hotter here, now? Well it’s not really the heat alone. I mean it’s hot, it’s very hot, but that’s not what is driving me nuts. It’s the humidity!!! Sweating, itching, sticky. And poor Nisarga, he likes humidity; so he can’t understand why I’m so irritable and stand offish when he is trying to hug me or caress me. AAAAAA… “don’t touch me!!!”

I’m going to kill someone! Maybe everyone! Definitely many! Nisarga is left unphased. Maybe because he spends both days we are in Delhi mostly sleeping. Thank goodness we only have to spend one night in Delhi. How did I do this for 4 summers? Oh yes, I had a job! Which meant I was in AC during peak heat hours, which are basically 9 to 5… how convenient! I feel like I can’t breathe in this air. And it’s not just the humidity, it’s the pollution, the noise, the sardines in a can feeling with so many people and animals, and almost no sidewalks, fighting, pushing and shoving to make their way from A to B.

I’m reminded, at my core, why I vowed not to spend another summer in India again. The monsoon is romanticized and while there are always the hills to escape to, there it is also pouring! When it’s raining the streets flood (there are no drains or underground sewage systems in Delhi) and become rivers carrying along with them all kinds of organic and non-organic waste. The mosquitoes, the humidity, the mould on everything, nothing dries, the smell of mildew throughout, a stinky, dirty sauna! Don’t get me wrong people, if you feel like visiting please do come to India, just don’t come to Delhi between April and September.

So nearly 3 months later, and over 5 kilos heavier (11 pounds) heavier (no, I don’t mean my backpack I mean my hips!), I am definitely back home, in India. Actually, this is the first time in 4.5 years that I have been out of India this long! The longest time before was 3 weeks. And while I was here working, for the first 3.5 years, I only went to the West twice. I didn’t have any visa requirements to leave and re-enter every 6 months the way I do now that I’m on a tourist visa, because I was here on diplomatic status. I remember making the mistake once of not leaving mother India’s arms for 18 months! The last 3 of those 18 months were May, June and July and that’s the last time I remember wanting to kill everyone in sight… those were tough, hot and sticky months. Leaving every 6 months is a much saner, healthier strategy.

At 1730 on the 29th we board an overnight bus for the state of Himachal Pradesh, in the Himalayas. I’m soooo grateful!