How hot is Hot?

Pretty bloody hot actually! Yesterday Delhi got to 43.7 degrees - and the wind! There is a hot wind which blows in from the desert, called loos, which makes you feel as though you are walking around with a huge fan heater attached to you. I am struggling to find ways to describe what it feels like, but as I was swimming yesterday every time I took my head out of the water to breathe I could feel my hair being blow dried! It is so hot that you feel it cannot get any hotter, so you try to go about your business as best you can. It is predicted to be even hotter today, before the temperature 'plunges' to about 40 tomorrow. Better get my fleece out! According to the Times of India, yesterday was the hottest April day since 1958 - lucky me. Everyone is forecasting May to be close to unbearable. Good thing there is a brand of home airconditioner advertised that cools 'even at 54 degrees'.
After a morning swim yesterday I went to Khan market to see Mr Goel the tailor, who has done a magnificent job for me. A spot of lunch in a nice a/c cafe (with a cold beer) and it was back into the shops, then home for a bit before going to Delhi Haat in the evening.
Delhi Haat is a fabulous outdoor market with stalls from all over India - each state tourism place has a restaurant serving their local delicacies, and the stalls from all over India have Hyderabadi pearls (very nice), embroidered stuff from Orissa, Punjabi pottery. It was still about 38 degrees last night when we went, but after a while your brain just switches off!
Sunday is the 'staff' day off, so I was first up this morning (that never happens!) and I am struggling to create breakfast. I found some bread to make toast, finally found tea leaves and a teapot, but damned if I can find the milk. There is some rather weird looking white stuff in the fridge, which seems to have separated, so I am not taking any chances with that. I filled a thermos with the lame looking tea I made, and ended up with Vegemite on toast and Coke. Very healthy. Something I have often had here for lunch, which some people are fascinated by, is Chicken Ham. Don't ask me what it's made from, I am assuming chicken.. It kinda doesn't taste like anything, so perhaps it is made from chokos! But it is pretty good with grilled cheese on top for lunch. You can buy it here in South Delhi from the Steakhouse (which doesn't sell steak but does stock just about everything else) or a butcher cum deli called Pigpo. Great name.
And what of Brave Sir Robin? After telling me on Friday that they would spend a few days in Bomdilla, at lunchtime yesterday he called from Tawang, the end point of the 'trek'. He estimates he has spent about 5 hours trekking in the last few weeks, and never wants to see a jeep again! He saw another foreigner on the road yesterday - they were both pleasantly surprised - and there are 2 other foreigners in town apparently. Hope they got together and had a party. One is an American anthropologist from Berkeley so Robin was hoping to catch up with her. They now have to fill in time till Thursday when I get up to Guwahati to meet them.
Latest scandal in India (now that Shoania is over) is that the IPL (cricket) has been tainted by match fixing and money laundering. Gee no kidding!

And here's some sickly cakes you don't want to scoff in this heat - from the fabulous Evergreen Sweet House in Green Park - and don't you just love the name - Pista Bhog - I bet that's how you feel after a few! The silver stuff isn't foil it is silver leaf, which doesn't make your fillings zing.