Sweaters in May

 Bengaluru recently went through a May-December romance. Now it has nothing to do with what a Mills and Boon novel has to offer, but it is about the freak weather this year. In May we were experiencing a December-like chill, forcing us to take out the sweaters and jackets that were mothballed a barely a month or two ago.

May began from what April had left off – sweltering afternoons with some relief during nights. Fans and air conditioners were sweating it out throughout the day. Those venturing out in afternoons were even witnessing mirages, something associated with more arid climes.

This continued for nearly a week and then Cyclone Asani happened in the distant Bay of Bengal. The cyclonic formation brought rain clouds to Bangalore. People cheered as it was a harbinger of some glad tidings.  Soon one started feeling the cool breeze and the vague smell of petrichor. This was followed by thunder and lightning and the skies opened up.

Pre-monsoon showers are not uncommon in Bengaluru. They are often referred to as ‘mango rains’ as they help in the flowering of mangoes and keep the mercury levels within limits.

But this year something unusual happened. The rains just did not just bring respite from the heat, it also ensured that the mercury dropped drastically and the maximum temperature plunged by 9 degrees Celsius on May 10. It was the lowest in this century.

Showers became a regular feature every evening, while the days continued to swelter. Social media was awash with memes of Bengaluru having three seasons in a day – summer after 10 am, monsoon in the evening, and winter at night.

Bengaluru Twitter began proudly flaunting the screenshots of live temperatures and boasting how they were even cooler than various hill stations in India. The reactions it evoked were sharp – ranging from admiration to envy/hostility, especially from our countrymen up north, where the maximum temperature refuses to come below 40 degrees Celsius.

The weathermen explained this bountiful wet spell to two cyclonic circulations – one off Tamil Nadu in the Bay of Bengal and the other near Lakshadweep Islands.

However, it also exposed the city’s infrastructure fault lines. It showed that a mere half-an-hour shower was enough to bring the city’s roads to their knees, and fill the underpasses with waist-high water. Many low-lying areas got inundated and drains were clogged on almost every street.

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Warming winters

While watching NDTV 24x7 my attention often gets drawn to the running ticker below showing live temperatures of various cities in the country. And often I feel quite alarmed on seeing Bangalore's temperature, which seems always on the higher side during winters. Quite often it is even higher than Mumbai, which has more of a tropical coastal weather.
 
This winter was rather freakish all over India, with temperatures falling below the usual levels and places like Dehra Dun even experiencing snowfall - something that had never happened in that hill station for decades. But alas, no such pleasant surprises for Bangaloreans. Here whatever little cool breeze we experience in the winter mornings vanish with the early rays of sunshine. After that the scorching sun takes centrestage and then it is little different from April-May, and we wait for sunset for some relief. Sweater, jackets seem redundant (unless you are riding a bike) or more of a fashion statement.
 
The other day I read a news report that average temperature in the city was rising at a faster rate than other places. Scientists claim that while the temperatures world wide rose by one degree in 100 years, in the Garden City it did so by two degrees. It is a startling finding and I feel the days of 40-plus degree centigrade summers is round the corner. Experts says all this is due to massive urbanisation following the IT boom.
 
The city seems to be broadly suffering from two sets of problems - one that every city undergoing rapid urbanisation is afflicted with and the other due to the city's peculiar characteristics such as topography, climate. The city's bewildering pace of urbanisation had caught everyone off guard. The results have been dwindling tree cover and an exponential increase in concrete structures. Even trees on footpaths seem to be weakening with roots getting choked by masonary and leaves are getting exposed to fumes from ever increasing vehicular population.
 
The city's burgeoning population has put its lakes under stress. Many of them either got vanished to carry out 'development' and some have been reduced to overgrown drains to dump effluents. Some of the city's landmarks such as Kempegowda bus station, Kanteerva stadium and National Dairy Research Institute are actually situated on lake lands. Guess, those days environment was not a strong constituency and these measures may have had the blessings of the people.

The city is actually staring at a major water crisis and if nothing timely is done to preserve the depleting water table, the problem would only worsen. Moreover since the city is located on a plateau, its ecology is all the more fragile.
 
Frankly I see not much remedial measures happening. The city fathers have raised the pitch for rain water harvesting, but it has a long gestation period. Surprisingly not much is being talked about  water recycling. The government should get proactive and set up recycling plants in all wards to collect waste water for recycling. It should make it mandatory that only recycled water should be used for industrial purposes. And also in bathrooms and for activities like washing cars, gardening etc. The situation calls for really drastic measures.
As a passing thought I often see water lorries spilling around water as the move on the road. Something needs to be done to curb this criminal waste.

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