Oh, this has to be written.
Last evening I went to Khan Market- the old bastion of book shops and cafe’s in New Delhi, looking for a copy of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.
INT- RESPECTABLE BOOKSHOP - EVENING
Me: Do you have the book, Of Mice and Men?
(hesitant pause)
By John Steinbeck?
The bookshop owner looks me up and down, curls his lip and replies in disgust.
Owner: We don’t have a computer section.
Don’t Panic, Dev. All will be ok.
Playing on iTunes It’s Getting Old from the album “Tally of the Yes Men” by Goldspot]
Yes that’s correct. At first I thought the Airline crew of Jet Airways had got it wrong. Surely she meant 35c. But the English announcement confirmed it.
Yes, Delhi is 45c or 113F and this was not the middle of the day. It was 7:45pm. The sun had set an hour ago!
In English, August there’s a line which goes:
SRIVASTAVA: If you think its hot wait till next month. Even birds drop from the sky, dead!
The army recorded 52 degrees in Rajasthan. Im sure Madna will top that.
Everyone thought that 52 degrees was over the top. 13 years later you don’t need to go to the desert. Even Delhi is getting close to it.
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