Balmy, Breathtaking Bandra: Summer Heat Peak

I think I can, I think I can...slowly chugging up the hill.

Did I mention that A/C is magic/wonderful/amazing/miraculous?  Because it is.   

I realize I am extremely fortunate to have access to unnaturally cooled temperatures and humidifiers that purify the inside air.  There is enough humidity that four separate gallon-sized water tanks fill up and must be emptied once a day from the sucked up water captured within the balmy air in our building apartment.  Once the humidity lessens, the air cools quickly.  

 I suppose that living in Charleston, South Carolina prior to moving here was excellent prep for humid summers.  Right now the weather in Mumbai is perfect, low 80s, but will continue to steadily rise and peak until we hit the height of monsoon season in mid-summer, when the clouds turn gray and rain emerges like stray packages plummeting from the sky. 

Pink and Purty ; )

Flooding, I have heard, is common between June to September throughout Mumbai, but surface streets are generally slanted so they can for the most part still be driven on through the use of a dryer, narrowed entryway.  [Note to reader: Oh, so if you are going to visit, better not plan for monsoon season.]  October to May, however, is goodly warm weather, with the height of Mumbai’s beauty in January and February.  The flowers now, however, are blossoming colorfully, and walking around the city with the slight bit of heat is entirely manageable if you are a warm-weather spirited sort.  

Walking about on a warm, sticky day with sounds of cars and bugs buzzing through my ears.

 I, for one, chose to do my dissertation research in Ghana, West Africa during the winter season while living in New York: I will do nearly anything to re-arrange my schedule to avoid the bite of Father Winter.  Yes.  So for me, in this moment, the temperature is perfect.  Ghana, comparatively, takes about two weeks to become adjusted to the heat index, accompanied by frequent realizations, upon finding a sporadic mirror, that sweat dropules permeate and park themselves above the lip, on the back, under the arms, and down the legs.  You may be thinking, hmm, that sounds hot, but really you get used to it after a few short weeks, and then sitting in the shade it grows quite 

comfortable.  

 Hot weather makes cold drinks taste all the sweeter, and the power of ice holds ultimate prestige within my book.  My love of ice is a particular American-bred oddity, one that I’ve found, when traveling throughout Europe, is U.S. specific.  (When you ask for ice in Paris, they give you two bitty cubes to temper a tepid soda.  I on the other hand pour my ice to the cup’s brim and then listen to the crackle of Diet Coke—a strange addiction!— as the ice sharply breaks.)  When I hear the loud pop of the ice melding with drink, I know I have done well in preparing my frosty liquid for consumption.  Ah, ice.  Perhaps I should move on to more important things, no?    

 

Sun-bleached laundry, air conditioners, and breeze-seeking windows.

An idea of the heat index, if you are thinking of traveling to Mumbai: 

Year-round weather ranges from about 16 to 33 degrees Celcius (or 60 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit): January is the coolest and May is the warmest, whereas July is temperate but is by far the wettest.

Here's a scale in case (like me) you 

forgot how to do the conversion rate 

from Fahrenheit to Celcius:

16 degrees Celsius is 60.8 Fahrenheit

19 degrees Celsius is 66.2 Fahrenheit

21 degrees Celsius is 69.8 Fahrenheit

22 degrees Celsius is 71.6 Fahrenheit

23 degrees Celsius is 73.4 Fahrenheit

24 degrees Celsius is 75.2 Fahrenheit

25 degrees Celsius is 77 Fahrenheit

27 degrees Celsius is 80.6 Fahrenheit

28 degrees Celsius is 82.4 Fahrenheit

30 degrees Celsius is 86 Fahrenheit

31 degrees Celsius is 87.8 Fahrenheit

32 degrees Celsius is 89.6 Fahrenheit

33 degrees Celsius is 91.4 Fahrenheit

38 degrees Celsius is 100.4 Fahrenheit

40 degrees Celsius is 104 Fahrenheit

            So, do you think you will be up for a visit? 

And are you ready to handle the magical, marvelous heat?!?