Don’t complain, have some fun in the fog

These days news channels keep complaining about the cold wave that has gripped north India. Headlines like ‘People shiver as temperature dips’, ‘Two dead due to intense cold wave in north India’, ‘Flights and trains delayed due to poor visibility’, among others, are screamed upon.

Weather is an ubiquitous topic for discussion every season. Most people that I meet in these cold and foggy winter days complain about the dip in temperature and wish that winter ends at the earliest. But I am different.

I agree with Kin Hubbard when he says: “Don’t knock the weather, nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” I rarely complain about weather. This is for two reasons. Firstly, there will always be times when the weather will be too hot or too cold, too humid or too sultry, too messy or too wet. I feel that if I were to whine about it, I would be doing so for nearly 200 days in a year. Besides, I would surely be irritable on these days.

Secondly, I think weather makes life much so interesting and fun. We have so many reasons to enjoy and experience the two extremes of temperature, along with the shades that fall in between. The change in mercury levels allow us to experiment with delectable tastes of different foods. While in summer one can relish on mangoes, winter becomes special with sweets and the warmth of our quilts. The change in weather also gives us occasions to shop and flaunt our wardrobes with cottons, silks, woollens, among others. You see, it’s never a dull moment!

Vagaries of human nature can often match with the vagaries of season. “Summer is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather,” writes John Ruskin. Exactly my sentiments.

At present, the weather for us in this part of the country is cold and the mornings are opaque with fog all around. On the first day of this season a whole mass of cloud-like fog appeared to have enveloped everything in the evening. I was jubilant on seeing this. Clad in my warm Kashmiri ‘phiran’ and a woollen cap, I ventured out.

Of course, there were fewer people around. The chill in the air had a wet feel to it and a ghostly feeling prevailed. I noticed a buoyancy in my step as I found myself to be a part of the surreal phenomenon. On another day, I had to go out for some errand in the morning at 9.

The town was shrouded in fog and people on road appeared to be akin to walking ghosts from another world. As I drove, a strange feeling overwhelmed me. The feeling was of wonder. I felt alone and yet connected to this world, but I was not part of it. Everything seemed ethereal and people appeared as if they were floating. It was both mystical and mysterious.

In an atmosphere such as this, the mind seems to take off on a tangent and thoughts and emotions waltz on silent notes. This is something that I experience only on cold and foggy days. The weather is beautiful, enjoy it in its entirety because it lasts only a few days and won’t return for a year. Have fun in the fog. I do.

I RARELY COMPLAIN ABOUT WEATHER. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE TIMES WHEN THE WEATHER WILL BE TOO HOT OR TOO COLD, TOO HUMID OR TOO SULTRY, TOO MESSY OR TOO WET