Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Why I Am Reading Weather Reports These Days

"शनिवार को हुई बारिश के बाद रविवार को दिनभर तेज धूप रही। धूप से शहर तपने लगा। बीते दिनों हुई बारिश के कारण उमस जैसा माहौल होने से लोग गर्मी से परेशान होने लगे हैं। मौसम में आ रहे बार-बार परिवर्तन से लोगों की दिनचर्या पर भी असर पड़ रहा है।"
For some reason, I find this weather bulletin ridiculously literary and entertaining. It has short sentences and a flat, unemotional tone* that belong to a Simenon novel.

If I may stretch things a bit further, I will say there's even a Camusian air to it, almost like a scene from "The Stranger":
"I waited. The heat was beginning to scorch my cheeks; beads of sweat were gathering in my eyebrows.It was just the same sort of heat as at my mother’s funeral, and I had the same disagreeable sensations—especially in my forehead, where all the veins seemed to be bursting through the skin. I couldn’t stand it any longer, and took another step forward. "
Rest of the weather report is here. (link to bhaskar.com, in Hindi.)

*For best results, read the report like a voiceover in a film (a violent film about outsiders and loners, like, say, "Taxi Driver").

If it interests you, check out this essay by Paul Theroux on Simenon and Camus. (Link to Timesonline)

13 comments:

Space Bar said...

first youtube videos now the weather in hindi.

i'm trying hard not to ask the questions i want to!

km said...

yes, sb, you can ask, you know :)

Space Bar said...

right. :D

how come you have so much time?

(I am proud of myself)

anurag said...

Few more voices and some Cello and flute captured by a nice tracking shot, and you are so near to my favorite scene in Who's Camus, Anyway! wow !

km said...

SB: Good wifi. Long showers. Waterproof laptop.

Anurag: how about "The End" (Apocalypse Now)? though a cello can improve almost any score immediately.

Tabula Rasa said...

let's get this straight -- you're in the shower with a laptop that's connected to the internet, and you surf weather reports???

Space Bar said...

TR: No, no. That's when he does the youtubes.

Just so long as he is also not drinking coffee while in the shower. Don't look at me - I'm only concerned for your keyboard.

km said...

TR: Call it "showerdenfreude". Nothing like standing in a hot shower and reading about rainfall shortages in Southwestern United States.

SB: Youtubes happen during the shave.

Space Bar said...

Youtubes happen during the shave.

Next question: do you look like Boris Karloff?

km said...

HA HA. Boris Karloff. But I am a Bela Lugosi fan, which means I don't need a mirror to shave.

??! said...

I read this, and re-read this, and I can't believe I (and everybody else) missed the obvious bad 'un...

The question is, are you also listening to Weather Report* these days?


* le band, of course.

??! said...

also, a bath and reading laptops, ok. But during a shower? I mean, the water...the soap...

Ok, the logistics boggle me.

km said...

??!: I am not in a jazz-rock phase right now. But when that mood strikes me, and I think it's about 3 weeks away, I will be blasting "Black Market" and "Heavy Weather"

And logistics? What logistics? There's a shower. There's a laptop. Then there's shampoo all over the keyboard. And conditioner in the USB ports. Simbul.