BENGALURU: Here in Bengaluru, our winters rarely get colder than 15 degrees Celsius in the coldest nights, and through the days, it is a nice, balmy mid-20s. It is great to chill out on the terraces with cups of filter coffee or masala tea for those so inclined. We have endless parties from a week before Christmas through to the New Year, and this is the time when Bangaloreans bring out their light jackets and shawls for the evening parties, showing off their acquisitions over the year from The Hundred Hands Collective or other artisan oriented crafts bazaars, of their Ladakhi pashminas, Kutchi weaves and other objects of beauty, if not the light linen jackets and what not.
When we get back home late in the evenings, it is great to snuggle in this weather. There is a certain joy in being able to snuggle up with another warm person in these cold nights, under a slightly heavy quilt. There is a difference in the quality of sleep in such evenings, and even in the breath we take. Even the very act of our breathing seems deeper and more pleasurable, and when we wake we find ourselves reluctant to discard the warm weight of our beloved and move into the day by ourselves. It is a precious feeling, but it lasts only a little while.
Soon, the winters give way to our hot March and April, and we have to shift very quickly from wanting to cuddle in the winter stillness to want to throw away everything, push people away and lie down under the ceiling fan at maximum speed. We can barely bear to be touched, let alone have someone cuddle up. Our skin seems to itch and the air we breathe seems to singe our lungs. Things change so fast.
Our need for physical contact, especially contact that is not about sex, is quite connected to the ambience we are in. When it is hot, we may not want much more than a quick peck on the cheek or a perfunctory hug, but when the weather is like it is now in Bengaluru, we want the lingering hug, lots of mellow time, hanging about in bed hoping someone else would magically come and do the daily chores. If it was way below freezing like it must be in Ladakhi now, I guess, we would be too preoccupied in keeping any warmth at all that again we wouldn’t bother with the snuggles.
How we relate to our loved ones changes with the weather. Our need for love changes. Our desire for touch and caressing changes. We adapt to the weather we find ourselves in, of course, but deep in our hearts, we long for this perfect weather when we can really experience the togetherness.
Perhaps that’s one reason why fancier resorts even in the hottest and most humid places keep the air-conditioning so strong that people can use their big beds and quilts and feel the mellowness of the weather. Right now, we are in luck. Enjoy it.
The author is a counsellor with InnerSight.