Page 46 - GOTIL (ENG) Sample

14 Glimpses of Traditional Indian Life

subside. Bees come out of their hives and sit for hours
in the shade, fanning themselves with their wings. Birds
sit in trees — not singing, just surviving. Not a sound is
heard. All is still. Even the leaves don’t rustle. Only toward
late afternoon does the temperature reduce slightly and
things come back to life.

Although the nights are less oppressive, it is still sometimes
too hot to sleep. In villages, if there is no all-night drama
or kīrtana function, people just lie outside on mats, wafting
themselves with hand fans, chatting and waiting until late
night, when it will be cool enough to snooze. Sometimes
we would submerge ourselves in a river or pond to cool
off. Taking bath during the day didn’t help much because
immediately after drying off, one’s body would again
become wet with sweat.

Occasional slight relief from summer heat comes in the
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form of boishaki jhar, the storm after a long torrid day.
The unrelenting heat is suddenly broken by a furious
wind, shortly followed by heavy rain. In ten minutes the
storm is over, but it can be intense. Banana trees are felled
and anything lying around outside gets blown away.

One afternoon in Boishak while I was sitting in the shade
in the courtyard of a family home, there was a slight deep
rumble of thunder in the distance. The eldest man of
the house said, bolche ami aschi: “He says, ‘I am coming.’”
Immediately all members of the household scrambled to

14. Boishaki — of the month of Boishak, one of the two months
of summer; jhar — storm.