109 ( Degrees, That Is ) And That's Not Fine! - Saturday, July 7, 1012

Since my arrival in Jaipur on the 23rd of July, the temperature has been steadily
rising.  I am staying in a third floor room above my friend, Bharat Kshatriya's 
home in a nice residential section of the city.  Bharat has two tourism companies,
Unseen Rajasthan Travel and Tours and Unseen India Travel and Tours.  We 
became acquainted as bloggers and, during my last visit to India, he invited me 
to his wedding reception.  The end of January was a most comfortable time to
visit Jaipur.  Unless you have air conditioning, this can be a most difficult time.

The other night, when the thermometer hit 109 degrees, I became somnolent
and dehydrated.  Bharat and his lovely sister, Megha Bhavesh Chhatbar, came
up and, finding me almost unrepsonsive, brought my body temperature down
by wrapping me in ice water towels.  Throughout the night, they constantly
rehydrated me with glucose and electrolytes.  They finally took me to sleep
downstairs in their home which was much cooler, being on the second floor.
If left alone, I would have just slept and not had any water.  I had eaten
hardly anything in days.  My newly purchased smaller size clothing was
hanging on me.   I was weak and listless.

During that week, my computer, along with me, had also crashed.  Bharat
came to the rescue once again.  Amazingly, he had the exact Lenovo as I did
and, earlier, he had moved all my files to the D drive so I really had lost nothing.
He just did a little magic and, in a couple of hours, my computer was good as
new - except my microsoft office program was gone.  I'll have to let my brother,
who works for IBM, know about Bharat's computer choice!

Not a caw from this crow who seemed, also, affected 

by the heat

This "ship of the desert" didn't seem bothered by

the heat but no tourists were out for camel rides!

Just happy to have a feed bag

My friend, Shiju, does not like for me to post pictures of cows or elephants.  He says I

give people the wrong impression of India, that they roam about everywhere.  They do not.

However, in Jaipur, you will see many cows on the streets, wandering freely, belonging to

no one and to everyone.  Most are well fed as scraps are left out for them and animals,

especially cows and monkeys are respected.

Even in Mumbai and Patiala, I saw cows wandering loose.  I wish I could have gotten a

shot of a line of cows perched on a narrow center roadway median in Mumbai!  I love 

the cows and I would like to carry a sack of apples so I can feed them and get some

close up pictures of their faces.  Sorry, Shiju.  Lala would let me do that but he won't

let me get close to a monkey.

My heart goes out to the poor construction workers who must toil in this weather.  

They are often using the most basic equipment and doing back breaking work for

long hours.  I, recently, observed these men for a period of time and thought how

exhausted they must be when they get home in the evening!!

The guy at the top doesn't have such an easy job, either

So, even in this heat, life goes on.  People work, children play and go to school

( though the start was delayed a few days ).  People whiz by on their motorcycles

and I think the helmet law is obeyed better here than in many places - though

how does one get a helmet over a turban?