Beating Chennai's midsummer blues - The great sweltering challenge !!

As a small-town guy just past his teens, I landed in Singaara Chennai, my city of promises, my Eldorado, over a decade back in pursuit of my profession. Chennai conjured up in me images of a vivacious city, of a fast paced life, of the industrious and the literati, of art and fashion etc., of access to the inaccessible, my vision of a corridor to the modern world. The dust and dirt of the city, as in it's hospitable wont welcomed me into its fold without flinching or mooting a complaint. The wheel of my life spun well for a while, free from regrets till the advent of the month of April when it began to develop squeaks. It was the occasion when Helios was whetting his glow to come cracking with his joules on the skin of the pitiable denizens of Chennai. Yes, "sum" had just managed to wade in only to intensify through the next couple of months into "summer" and the "summest".

Over the days and weeks following, the quartet of heat, dirt, pollution and humidity got their act together to be at their synergistic best to land the perfect coup-de-grace on my frame. As unwary as I was, I often ventured out of my hideout in the mornings of apparently bright and breezy days only to be prevailed against squarely by the four and forced into a retreat like a panting and whining canine a few hours later. Chennai has always been at it's gruesome best during summer while posing the near ultimate test of physical endurance. Since those days I have learned the snail's art of adopting discretion over valor to tackle Chennai with due respect especially during the months of April through June.

The city of my dreams hasn't been behaving any better over the years, but has only degenerated for the worse. It has been getting more teeth behind itself with the passing years in comparison with every yesteryear, making a summer lived out in it's limits a matter of utter displeasure. Well, even as the city is preparing to throw me another "The great sweltering challenge !!" this year, I on the other hand am exercising due diligence and all caution to weather it rather successfully.