Most depressing day of the year?
New York today started out as a strong contender to London’s latest claim to fame. A day’s worth of icy rain, wind, topped off with snow was promised by the weathermen, and for once, delivered. And if all that weren’t enough to make you want to kill yourself, it was Valentine’s Day.
From what I’ve observed in the last few months, New Yorkers don’t seem to care too much about the weather (except in the summer, when they can’t stop whining). Somehow, the rainier or colder it gets the more stoic they become. But today, as they squeezed themselves into wet subway trains, juggling bunches of roses and multi-colored soft toys (a soft toy is an abomination to begin with – what can I possibly say about a mustard-colored one?) with their winter gear, even their spirits seemed just about ready to call it a day.
Personally, I can’t resist bad weather. In Madras, whenever there was a depression in the Bay, I somehow found reasons to visit the one friend who lived in T. Nagar. Once the roads were so badly flooded, that I walked all the way home to Kilpauk from the USIS, where I’d watched All the President’s Men (my mother did not appreciate the clearly indisputable necessity of that particular outing).
When I come across examples of women who scream at the first peal of thunder, I hang my head in shame. Among the very many challenges I face in finding true love, this one, I fear, is a biggie – I don’t ever need consolation during a thunder storm. Loud thunder can wake me up. But instead of cowering under the sheets or whimpering in fear or doing both, I usually want to go out to watch the trees sway in the wind (any type of tree will do, really – banyan trees, tamarind trees, peepul trees – so long as it’s a good strong tree). This character-quirk rather shatters the time-tested formula of “finding shelter in strong arms” to get over the willies, no?
Having no need to put on a show, I did my groceries today. After work, I went all the way down town to Union Square, navigating several inches of slush of varying consistencies. It felt awesome! Lexington Avenue was practically empty, something I’ve only seen in sci-fi movies before. Cabbies ignored green lights to allow pedestrians to slowly make their way across slippery roads. I came as close to skipping as one can with 3 inches of ice on the sidewalk.
Apparently, the firm is right, after all.
Comments (3 comments)
hmmm kilpauk… interesting… am from the same place…
(not in the sense which many ppl think 
).
-B
Anonymous / February 20th, 2007, 12:11 am / #
Monsoon in India is tolerable BUT rains in NYC - sucks! how bizarre
PolkaStripes-ZebraDots / February 22nd, 2007, 12:47 pm / #
Too depressed to post? ALL of you?
J.A.P.
J. Alfred Prufrock / March 11th, 2007, 3:36 am / #
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