[parishilton]

Enjoy the winter while it lasts. The cold spell -one of the best Chennai has had in recent years -is disappearing rather quickly.

Friends living in Bengaluru and north India used to laugh if you tell them January could be just a bit chilly in hot, hotter and hottest Chennai. If any resident of Tamil Nadu's capital had warm clothes in his wardrobe he must have been an intrepid traveler and those clothes would anyway be in mothballs most times of the year.

Anyone traveling out of these parts to colder places in Europe or beyond would have to take a trip to a shop in George Town, which was the only one tha would stock sweaters, muf flers, thermal underwear shawls and so on Otherwise, Chenaiites going to the hill stations for the summer would be seen buying warm clothes only in those rarified heights.

It never made sense to saddle yourself with the warm stuff through the day unless you were riding a two wheeler at night when the Margazhi and Thai dew would add to the chill fac tor and the atmosphere would be so nippy in open areas like the Marina tha we would stop for a few minutes to gather the warmth in the body before kicking the starter again.

Until the optimistic Nepalese came to flog their wa, rm clothes on the pavem. ents of Chennai in days when in their despair to emigrate they knew no other way of making a liv ing, there was very little marketing of such stuff in the city.

Today, even the high street stores put a few sweaters among the full sleeved shirts, which would probably be the least in demand in a tropical city known for its hot and humid climate.

While the world mourns global warming at forums in which leaders pontificate on the need to clean up the human act at least for the sake of posterity, Chennaiites must begin to believe there is some global cooling that is causing this surprise change bringing in some nippy weather by evening-night while the daytime is almost as warm as ever. Others, including climate experts, may tend to give the credit to La Nina.

The sad part is the cold spell tends to lift as quickly as it sets in. The days are decidedly more humid now, which means that the moment the dew disappears as soon as the night temperatures start rising, Chennai will be back to its old and wicked self.

Meanwhile, motorcyclists may have contributed their bit to the sale of jackets and wind cheaters that are a testimony to a bit of climate change.

As soon as the watermelons start dotting the pavements you know summer is round the corner. There is no escaping the Chennai heat and it might seem all that much hotter this year as electricity tariffs are set to go up at least 100% and the power cuts are going to see a rise in the temper in the people.

The real Chennai is never far away and that's a pity.

-dc chn