05/07/09 Mumbai Hot
Its hot here. But its very hot midday. Remember Noel Coward; "only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun". He was obviously referring to the midday sun in India. And he was damn right. For some unknown reason I am drawn back to the days of the cottonfield; barefoot and bareback in the glaring sun and feet burning in the dusty silt between the cotton rows. The overbearing omnipresent sunshine baking me and the dirt without a cloud in between for any relief. Wishing all the time for the good luck of being born in some place that had never heard of a cottonfield.

I take my midday stroll to stretch my legs outside the compound. The Indian workers lounge under any available shade-small trees, walls, vehicles...some stretched out napping, others sitting and others laying on their side resting their head on the palm of one hand. Jabbering or snoring. Just like the field hands during the midday break in the cottonfields. The days here are long too. There is nothing for it but to cuss, bear the heat, drink water and sweat and pray for the rains.