Dog days

A record high temperature of 43 °C was noted in Hyderabad yesterday - the newspaper mentioned that it was the hottest day in a decade. I did not need a thermometer or a news item to tell me that. My body thermostat had been complaining for the last few days. By the time the mercury touched record levels, my body alarm was practically screeching. During these intensely hot days, I turn into “Batwoman”, daring to step out of the house only after sundown. I get through the day with ice cubes placed strategically on my neck, forehead and eyes, either seated in front of the cooler downstairs or in the air-conditioned bedroom upstairs. In a phone conversation with some European client, we made some small talk about the weather. When I mentioned the temperatures here, the woman exclaimed, “How do you live there?” The appropriate question should have been, “How do you work there?” I haven’t been doing much work; my brain is completely fried. I hang out in a dazed state of heat-induced lethargy. I notice that the stray dogs do the same.

Medley, our friendly neighborhood stray, who is my daughter Aparna’s adopted pet, usually hangs out on the street, begs for leftovers and sometimes offers free security service outside our front door. In response to increasing heat, he has taken to sleeping under the bedroom window – day and night. He does not even seem to have the energy to bark. His tongue hangs out while he pants incessantly. Even his appetite is down. He drinks the water from the bowl that I have placed near the kitchen door. Animals follow their instinct when it comes to eating or abstaining. Reducing the food intake while focusing on hydration sounds like the right thing to do, for man and beast. The only part of Medley’s personality that is intact is his tail which maintains its little curl at the end. Straightening a dog’s tail is said to be an unending task. That reminds me of Aparna’s unrelenting efforts towards the opposite effect – in this case with her hair.

The child has been blessed with lovely straight hair of the variety that people would pay thousands of rupees to get straightened. But all she wants is a head full of bouncy waves and curls. So we tried a new hair cut today, a combination of feather cut and layers. At the end of an hour of hair wash, cut and blow dry, the effect is quite impressive. I wonder how long it will last. Is it possible to outwit Mother Nature? Can physical manipulations and chemical treatments really turn you into another person? You can temporarily sport a new look and if you have the patience, put the daily effort required into maintaining the effect for a while longer. I tried to tell her that. But she just rolled her eyes implying that “another lecture is coming”. It takes a long time for us to accept ourselves as we are – freckles, straight hair and all.


This sums up my thoughts in the sweltering heat of Hyderabad – dogs, daughters and cold drinks.