Gandhidham again...

Light-o-meter/Thermometer:

Sunrise: 0625 hours
Unbearable heat starts: 0745 hours
Unbearable heat stops: 1900 hours
Cricket can be played till: 1930 hours
Sunset: 1935 hours
Darkness: 2000 hours

Avg Max Temperature(May): 38 Degrees Celcius (Heat Index: 45 Degrees Celcius).
Avg Max Temperature(Jun): 48 Degrees Celcius (Heat Index: 50-52 Degrees Celcius).

The Heat is On!

I spent Sunday at home mostly - waiting for the sun to stop trying to burn down the dusty terrain. The end of the unbearable phase of heat provided the Christopher Columbus in me with a window of about an hour to go exploring the town. The resolve to protect my bum from baking meant another 5-7 odd minutes to let the interior of my car cool down!

The idea of exploring GDD wasn't a good one though. I'll try to paint the scene out to you...

Background:
The streets have lights, which havent worked in the last THREE Years! And no one seens to complain.
The roads here have more potholes than plane surfaces. Falling into any of these holes can send a rude long-lasting shock up your spinal cord!
Add to this the heavy traffic from Kandla Port (Trucks and other huge machines have to customarily pass through GDD en route to alomst any other place). Ever heard of the saying: Size does matter? Well...come to GDD to see people treating that saying as their raison d'etre.

Action:
So... You decide to pay no heed to the small obstructions in your path and you're cruising on an empty road at a comfortable speed of 60 kmph.
All of a sudden, you see an eerie monster dashing past across the road up ahead.
The limited light wont let you identify what you just saw, so take my word for it. It was a lady rider on her scooter with another lady riding pillion! (No offence meant towards anyone here - Im stating merely what I have seen a million times over).

Adding to the horror of your driving experience are the thousands of man-handled Two Wheelers. Scooters are a very popular mode of transport here for women. Gujju-bens, Grandmas, Mothers, Daughters, Kids, Younger Kids...everyone!
And they exhibit a very peculiar habit of dashing across roads and intersections without bothering to look, check or even lower their speeds marginally!

Thus, the entire scenario that I have painted, ensures that you need to reduce your driving speed to a comfortable 30 kmph when cruising with regular correction to almost 5-7 kmph when you encounter one of the million pot holes.

Conclusion:
Thus, in the 50 minutes I got to explore town, I barely managed to enter town! (I forgot to mention, I live about 8 kms away from the centre of the town. One of those plush resort kind of places - away from the city. Such a haven of peace that nearly anyone and everyone lives there now!)

After the abrupt end to my thirst for discovery and exploration, the IPL final helped me while away my evening.
It's sad the IPL is over. If I am here next weekend, It would be horrific!!
End of Story

The sun seams to have decided to burn the town down this morning. Just heard of someone succumbing to a heat stroke...

Rain you ask?
Naah! Doesnt rain here.
There are showers for about 3-4 days in a year.
The rain waiter then lingers on for a week or so due to under-developed drainage systems and people celebrate by taking their "Monsoon Breaks."

Short lived, but Im sure it would be a good respite from sitting in an air conditioned room 24 hours a day!!

A bientot...