It is below 20 degrees Celsius in Bangalore — Arctic Winter for Bangaloreans. People who are born and brought up in Bangalore, famously, find it comfortable only between the temperatures of 22 and 26 degrees Celsius. The moment the mercury moves in either direction, it is either too hot or too cold. Unbearably so.
It was in this context that I was reminiscing about the winters in Delhi during my childhood. Not the toxic gas chambers of today, but Delhi in the 80s. Delhi would reach 2 degrees Celsius and would see thick fog, not smog. The fog used to be so dense that taking a walk outside could leave your clothes with a thin layer of moisture on them.
If you grew up in North India during the 80s, there were some stupid things that were a part of life. I sometimes imagine why we made it so hard on ourselves.
(Not) Woollen Gloves - Jobless grandmothers could be seen sitting in the sun in the afternoon, knitting all over town. They used to knit useful things like sweaters, but also really useless things like gloves. Those nearly porous things never ever kept my hands warm. Their only value addition being the loss of dexterity. But all kids would wear it, hoping against hope that it would keep their fingers from freezing over. The fact that not a single adult wore one should have been a tell.
The great travesty is that it was not even wool. It was made of acrylic pretending to be wool. There was this company called Vardhaman, which used to sell knitting yarn with not one whit of wool in it.
Razai - A Persian word that came to India and was adopted into Urdu. This is the Indian version of the quilt. It’s essentially 25 kgs of cotton inside a stitched-up cloth bag. The razai used to weigh a ton and was always deadly cold to get into. You had to expend a lot of body heat to warm it up, and it would feel like your feet were perennially cold. Not to mention, folding it was a 3 people job, and it would occupy half of the bed once folded and look like one shapeless mound.
Upside, it was great to jump on.
Layers - The solution to any clothing being ineffective at defying the cold was to wear more of the same. You would wear a full sweater on top of a half sweater and top that off with a jacket. It was stitched such that neither would you be able to raise your hands higher than your ears nor drop them fully. The same would repeat itself with socks. One sock over another over another, and then wear canvas shoes. Like why?
Bus stops - Everything in Delhi was made of Iron. I suppose that was to ensure longevity. Bus stops would have iron railings that you could sit on while waiting for a bus. Of course, it used to be freezing cold and if it was foggy, bound to be slightly wet as well. Sitting on it would mean your ass would be wet. Pre-warmed railings were an asset! If someone was getting off to board a bus, you made sure you got that spot.
I survived all that and sometimes wish I could have it back!