Mad Dogs and….
“Mad dogs and Englishman go out in the noonday sun…”
As a youngster studying English literature I was exposed to the saying about “Mad dogs and Englishmen” early and often. And there was always a kind of conceptual understanding about the kind of “noonday sun” that could drive all but the crazy indoors.
In India my understanding got promptly converted from the conceptual to the visceral. Chalk it up to global warming if you will, but the noonday sun here has a certain relentlessness to it that I have never encountered in the deserts of the SouthWest. The brightness of the light and the intensity of the heat seem almost intent on driving the unwary into a kind of feverish stupor, and then into heat stroke. Suddenly the concept that “ya gotta be crazy to be out there” seems blindingly obvious.
In Rewalsar most sentient beings get out of the sun around lunchtime. People huddle in the fan-cooled darkness of a local tea shop or dhaba; construction workers rest in the shade of their building projects; dogs nestle into the cool piles of gravel and cement that all construction projects generate; and cows pause in their perambulations to plant themselves in the shade of a building or a tree. The few folks on the streets walk somewhat quickly, clearly focused on getting to their indoor destinations sooner rather than later.
After the first couple of misplanned shopping expeditions or such that involve walking around town at midday, the survival instincts kick in. Future trips get scheduled with the sun in mind. Start early, end things before noon, disappear into some eatery or other to have lunch and wait out the worst.
