We parked the car for an hour outside the store. While we grappled with door locks and stoppers and this insane amount of stuff that goes into the actual making of the House That Jack Built. (For what, after all? For the Rat to Eat the Malt and so on. The futility of it all, I tell you). Major Supremo aka my husband banged the car a little by running into a manhole. He blames me for it.
The temperature thingie in the hyundai read 45 C. I kid you not. The seat was boiling. The steering wheel was so hot to touch its a miracle we could drive at all. The little god photo that someone (who was it? Father in law, I bet) put in the car had come unglued, the velcro all melty and slimy. The child insisted that her elbows got burnt, and blames me for it.
That was yesterday. Today we were driving around feeling all happy that we could take two U-turns to try to find something called Yafa Towers (couldn't) without much difficulty. No one is on the roads, we said happily. Then we saw the temperature and laughed at us. Though we were happy to hear the guy drone on and on about sofas. [like, they come in 200 colours. Which matters not to us as we will pick one of two: black, or off-white, depending on].
At the beginning of Madras Avenue, ludwig said early Saturday morning "Just look at that" It was like the end of the road was looming in the distant haze and was winking at us, making faces, and laughing, for the utter foolishness of us. For being on the road. For running. For setting stupid goals related to running. For training for nothing, in this heat. I blame me. As does ludwig.
I have had a hard time keeping up deadlines. I am already a week late on one. And I am not even referring to the thing I should be doing right now instead of writing this blog post. "Its the heat" I argue with myself. My fingers are flying now, sitting, as I am, right underneath the air-conditioner. But in my office - they just slide off the beautiful black mac keys thanks to the sweating. Clearly, its the heat.
I spent the thursday & friday usefully arguing with my students - partly trying to enthuse them, partly trying to scold them, mostly amusing myself. Some of them had a hard deadline of a poster presentation scheduled friday. A poster they pretended to care nothing about. A deadline they assured me was my problem, not theirs (considering I unceremoniously volunteered their names for said session).
Back and forth we parried. "I'll buy you lunch" I said at 3 pm on Friday. They consumed vast amounts of food while I drank a coffee and tried not to watch. Its so hot that I am amazed at how kids can eat. Also, jealous, a little bit. "Off you go now and spruce up" I said. I could have asked them to go kill someone, the way they looked at me. They had to take a bus and go to Adyar and fight with the Xerox fellow there. But the posters looked good. Delicious. So there.
They switched the ac on at some point in the poster room, but not before they all attacked me with requests for water. "We've been talking for so long and there is no damn water in this place to drink" they whined. I smiled and tried to make them drink tea (that, they wouldn't). Even after one of them won the FIRST PRIZE in the poster session, they are still pretending like they did me a big favour.
The week, the weekend, both nearly done at this point. The heat and humidity have been awful. I want to hit someone for the fact that I have to spend all of April and May in Chennai this year. Then I recall all the statements I make to the various people in my life when they complain about everything under the sun (and blame me for it all):
This is excellent training weather for hot races (like apparently Boston was this year) [About Running and Sweating Buckets]
If it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger; or at least you might lose it and hallucinate about lizards playing the guitar which is always fun [About Just Hanging Out In The Heat]
So what if there are no points for it? You learn a lot from the exercise [About Poster Sessions]
Yeah so clearly, its all my fault. I have brought this on myself. Oh who am I kidding? I am having the time of my life. My mom is coming over next week. This time around, husband & I have a good rhythm going and understand furniture better. And don't have to talk in Hindi. There is swimming. There is always good food at home. I am totally enjoying logging longer runs in my vibrams. The homies actually miss me when I return home late. I can totally convince myself that the heat is ignorable.... like totally...
The temperature thingie in the hyundai read 45 C. I kid you not. The seat was boiling. The steering wheel was so hot to touch its a miracle we could drive at all. The little god photo that someone (who was it? Father in law, I bet) put in the car had come unglued, the velcro all melty and slimy. The child insisted that her elbows got burnt, and blames me for it.
That was yesterday. Today we were driving around feeling all happy that we could take two U-turns to try to find something called Yafa Towers (couldn't) without much difficulty. No one is on the roads, we said happily. Then we saw the temperature and laughed at us. Though we were happy to hear the guy drone on and on about sofas. [like, they come in 200 colours. Which matters not to us as we will pick one of two: black, or off-white, depending on].
At the beginning of Madras Avenue, ludwig said early Saturday morning "Just look at that" It was like the end of the road was looming in the distant haze and was winking at us, making faces, and laughing, for the utter foolishness of us. For being on the road. For running. For setting stupid goals related to running. For training for nothing, in this heat. I blame me. As does ludwig.
I have had a hard time keeping up deadlines. I am already a week late on one. And I am not even referring to the thing I should be doing right now instead of writing this blog post. "Its the heat" I argue with myself. My fingers are flying now, sitting, as I am, right underneath the air-conditioner. But in my office - they just slide off the beautiful black mac keys thanks to the sweating. Clearly, its the heat.
I spent the thursday & friday usefully arguing with my students - partly trying to enthuse them, partly trying to scold them, mostly amusing myself. Some of them had a hard deadline of a poster presentation scheduled friday. A poster they pretended to care nothing about. A deadline they assured me was my problem, not theirs (considering I unceremoniously volunteered their names for said session).
Back and forth we parried. "I'll buy you lunch" I said at 3 pm on Friday. They consumed vast amounts of food while I drank a coffee and tried not to watch. Its so hot that I am amazed at how kids can eat. Also, jealous, a little bit. "Off you go now and spruce up" I said. I could have asked them to go kill someone, the way they looked at me. They had to take a bus and go to Adyar and fight with the Xerox fellow there. But the posters looked good. Delicious. So there.
They switched the ac on at some point in the poster room, but not before they all attacked me with requests for water. "We've been talking for so long and there is no damn water in this place to drink" they whined. I smiled and tried to make them drink tea (that, they wouldn't). Even after one of them won the FIRST PRIZE in the poster session, they are still pretending like they did me a big favour.
The week, the weekend, both nearly done at this point. The heat and humidity have been awful. I want to hit someone for the fact that I have to spend all of April and May in Chennai this year. Then I recall all the statements I make to the various people in my life when they complain about everything under the sun (and blame me for it all):
This is excellent training weather for hot races (like apparently Boston was this year) [About Running and Sweating Buckets]
If it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger; or at least you might lose it and hallucinate about lizards playing the guitar which is always fun [About Just Hanging Out In The Heat]
So what if there are no points for it? You learn a lot from the exercise [About Poster Sessions]
Yeah so clearly, its all my fault. I have brought this on myself. Oh who am I kidding? I am having the time of my life. My mom is coming over next week. This time around, husband & I have a good rhythm going and understand furniture better. And don't have to talk in Hindi. There is swimming. There is always good food at home. I am totally enjoying logging longer runs in my vibrams. The homies actually miss me when I return home late. I can totally convince myself that the heat is ignorable.... like totally...
2 comments:
Dude, we did our survey camp in that same heat. Ask Ludwig and/or your husband for details.
chox that sounds like serious punishment. you poor thing. i doubt ludwig did anything at all except harass his classmates & profs. my husband might have been marginally better.
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