Monday, January 15, 2007

Snow Is Not Fun.

Deceptive are the ways of Bollywood movies. Flimsy chiffon saree clad women dancing in the snow made snow look like a lot of fun. Love birds throwing snow balls at each other. It's winter here, and it's already snowing. I have never seen snow outside movies. And this sub-zero temperature is not really making it a very pleasant experience. Have you ever touched your face on a cold night to suddenly realize that you can't feel your nose? You move your fingers down to your lips, your cheeks, and you cannot feel them either. Trust me, it is not a very good feeling. I hate winters. This is the first time that I'm experiencing such extreme winters, and I am not happy. 

  1. It snows here, a light rain of flakes for a couple of hours, and I keep praying- snow more, snow more. Yet it never snows enough to shut down school. No matter how cold it is, I have to go to school every morning. And you know how it feels walking in the snow? Try jutting your face inside the freezer (where you store meat and make ice). That is exactly what it feels like when you walk in the snow.
  2. The tank tops, strapped tops, even the colorful sleeved tops and tee shirts and the open sandals and chappals are gone. It's been weeks since I've shown anything more than my eyes and my nose. Sometimes I wear so many layers of clothes and am bent down with weight (if not with age) that I wonder if I'll ever recognize myself in the mirror.
  3. You don't really fancy attending 8:30 am classes three days a week. I have to burn the midnight oil at the library doing reference work, poring over books and journals. It usually gets late, and then, it's a nightmare walking up to the bus stop.
  4. How would you feel if you thought that while you are walking, some weird force of nature is getting your clothes damp and wet (It rains nine months of the year here)? No matter how many layers of clothes you wear, you always have a feeling that your clothes are soaking damp.
  5. I don't see faces on the streets anymore. All I can see are eyes and the nose.
  6. These are winters minus the steaming hot coffee, pakoras, and khichuri mom made while you spent a lazy evening reading a book. Now, even if I need a glass of water, I have to fetch it myself. 
  7. Do you know how many times I've tripped and slipped while walking in the snow? It's damp, it's slippery, and it's not that simple.
  8. You wait for the bus on a cold night when you see a couple approaching, holding hands and kissing and talking in each other's ears, totally oblivious to the cold. And there you keep waiting for the bus, thinking, "I wish!". 
  9. Cold or no cold, exams don't wait for anyone. Sun or no sun, I have to study, no matter how sleepy this weather makes me and how I long to get inside the blanket reading a novel. 
  10. Taking a shower, cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, washing hands before eating, or anything that involves water becomes a painful chore. You try to remain as far from water as you can. You kinda become hydrophobic.
  1. It's too much to go out and socialize with friends.
  2. Most of your money is gone either buying winter clothes, or medicines for cold, cough, and fever. Not to mention the frozen fingers threatening to become gangrene infested, dry cheeks, and chapped lips.
  3. No matter how much you love the butter pecan ice creams and the pina colada yogurt, you can't eat them anymore.
  4. Every time you hit the chair, the car seat, or even the shit pot, you get microvolts of pulsating electricity passing through your frozen skin.
  5. Gym and working out? Forget it if that requires going out in the cold. You are so sluggish, you sleep and eat all day at home, put on weight, and then the next year you get even more bankrupt spending more money getting bigger clothes. Not to mention how you want to die when you see a well-toned person running in the cold.
    Well, what to say, sunshine needs sun, and most of the time there is no sun. A few hours more, and I'd reach the North Pole. Whatever little sunshine you have barely touches your skin; it's colorless and frozen most of the time.
    Snow looks good only in on National Geographic and in movies. In real life, it is a pain.
Pic taken from my apartment window. 

sunshine.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

same pinch!
i too HATE cold.
its awful.
hope it will be sunshiny soon.
-dharna

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

You know, the style and quality of your writing has gone up in the last few posts. All of them, including this one, have humour, thought, and the free natural flow I've always associated with them. Keep writing!

Anonymous said...

lol ... snow may be fun or no fun but reading ur post was surely fun ...
do something an send some snow and rains to phoenix people ... there it's primarily winters and summers like delhi ... without rainy seasons and no snow ...

ME ... !!!

Lady Godiva said...

left a comment for you in your previou post.

Still Searching said...

Heyyy!! Snow is cool!! And almost all the reasons why I think its cool are the reasons u've mentioned for it being a pain! Hehe.. but sub-zero temp in central heating is one thing, and low temps w/o central heating (like in delhi) is another thing! Dont like the witners here in delhi now, coz I feel too cold, and my reasons aer many of those which you have mentioned!

cm chap said...

Hi,

Hapnd to stumble in ur blog..Nice one though..

"Snow is not Fun"..True..Every word you wrote is wat I'm also going through now..as a first time exp of North American Winter..

Cheers

Marlee said...

sunshine, i can only imagine ur unhappiness. i hate winters as well! delhi is much better ofcourse but i hate it when my fngers become numb. hoping the weather looks up for u soon!

~Nayan~ said...

hey
what about the internal heating ???
U cant claim that seats remain frozen inside the rooms :D

John Doe said...

hmm which place is this btw... am a "soon to be pig" wondering if ohio is gonna be as cold as this place u mention !