Too cold for comfort

Alka Kashyap

THE first few days of this New Year were certainly not turning out as we had expected them to be. The fervour of fresh beginnings was dwindling in the dark and gloomy weather outside. Never had I checked the Chandigarh weather so assiduously or peeped out of the curtains to get a glimpse or a feeble hint of sunshine. The long spell of overcast days with heavy bouts of rain was playing on our minds. With the sun playing truant, each day was getting difficult for the clothes to dry and the saplings to grow, leaving us shivering down to the bones.

I was reminded of my growing up years in Shimla. Having lived half my life in the hills, we were well endowed to endure the onslaught of snow and incessant rain. Bad weather was never a bother as it had become a way of life. We would go weeks without the sun, and sometimes the water in the pipes would freeze. I remember we used to heat the pipes coming to the kitchen with a big candle, to let the water flow.

There were days when the electric wires would snap due to heavy snowfall and it would take days to restore it. That meant no television and no heaters. Added to that was the disrupted supply of milk and vegetables. Nothing moved on the roads and virtually everything came to a standstill when it snowed. We were home-bound for a long time, almost like going into a lockdown.

The good part was that our spirits were always high. We had wooden floors, fully carpet rooms and a fireplace that would be burning. Our homes had all the means to combat any contingency. For instance, there used to be a huge oil lantern in every room, before the emergency lights and big torches made their way. In case of an outage, the country-made option of ‘kangri’, an innovative work of art from Kashmir, would be the replacement of a heater. ‘Hamams’ would be the geysers for heating water that functioned on burning wood.

Our kitchen used to be fully stocked with non-perishable food items. Dry fruits were specially stored as they were excellent sources of heat to the body. Our staple vegetable was sacks of potato. So whenever it snowed, we got down to eating every form of potato that could possibly be prepared.

Life was tough in the hills as compared to our modern-day inconvenience of not seeing the sun for a few days. I needed to remind myself to see the silver lining in the clouds. Running traffic, electricity, workplaces and regular food supply were some of the bright spots that kept the body, mind and spirit enervated amid the vagaries of the weather.

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