“It’s such a hot morning today, isn’t it?” expressed a stranger in my apartment lift. Drenched in his own sweat, he appeared to be returning from some exhausting exercise. I was returning from my daily morning yoga practice. We entered lift simultaneously. He pressed number five, interestingly we live on same floor but never noticed each other till date. Approaches the summer and such discussions are common in public domain.
Posed by a question i am obliged to reply, a reply which must be in acceptance of the thoughts expressed. “Yess… at least we have cooler nights.” I politely answered. Sometimes its difficult to accept a popular belief which doesn’t really affect you, as you are habitually looking at the brighter side.
“This year its very hot” he continued, I replied “even last year was not less hotter”. I further asked him, how long has he been living in Hyderabad. “Last ten years” came the reply. “Well i have been living here for last three years and i have not seen any cooler summer” of which people don’t complain. And the lift reached fifth floor. “Have a good day” and I closed the conversation with a smile on my face. I wonder how could I be smiling on such a hot day.
Everyday there are numerous such incidents where people complain about extreme heat in city. Although most of people, I encountered would work in fully air conditioned offices almost whole day (when its most sunny), spend their weekends in malls or indoors and still cannot bear the heat which they majorly experience during traveling and lunch/coffee breaks. Of course, it hurts more when we directly come out of artificially cold interiors(~20?) to natural hot weather (~35?).
I wonder how people in professions like agriculture and construction or street vendors be working in such harsh climatic conditions and most probably without any ears to complain.
Indeed mercury is soaring year on year at global level but aren’t we collectively the real cause of it? Then why do we complain? Does complaining help? I feel complaining has entered into DNA of human race. In summers, we complain its too hot; in winters, we complain its too cold; if it rains we complain we can’t go out and when it doesn’t rain we complain its dry and there is no water to drink. Well nobody has time to think about resolving complaints (if nature had a helpline to dial) and moreover, who really want to take on the responsibility.
However, we can at least take responsibility for ourselves. By minimizing the effects of summer heat on us and our loved ones. Left with no choice but to face the brunt, we must adapt ourselves to the changing climate.This require taking adequate precautions and making logical alterations in our routine lifestyle just for a few weeks:
- avoid exposing oneself to harsh sunlight during day
- covering head and skin if going outside
- drinking plenty of water (not too cold) throughout the day
- avoid staying in extreme cold air conditioners
- spend time with nature in morning and evening hours
- thinking positive and not complaining
Further, i benefit a lot form my regular yoga practice which help me to calm my mind and body. Over the years, I have developed enough strength not to be easily affected by natural climate. In yoga, we tune our body with nature everyday, thus the changes of seasons doesn’t really have much impact on a yogic body. Best examples is of our ancient Indian rishis who lived in all sorts of climates in usual minimalist clothing. The extended use of air conditioners, fans and artificial lights are modern concepts. They didn’t exist a few decades back. And by giving up to the pleasures of these globalized technical advances, the nature outside appears to be more painful.
And if pleasure and pain are all in the mind, then why are we still complaining instead of training…