Summer is here already, Chennaiites get ready to moan

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree long time ago.”     — Anon

There is no escaping the seasons as time marches on. Summer is here, heralded by the calendar turning to April and we are set for a scorcher this time, warned as we already are by the weathermen pointing to a very powerful El Nino phenomenon now weakening. While that might be good news for the coming south west monsoon, the intervening summer could be measurably hotter for the whole country. Of course, Chennai, Puducherry and Cuddalore get some relief from the sea breeze although its onset could be delayed by hot land breezes as the summer waxes.

It might appear funny that Chennaites are the ones to complain the most about the weather. But then the poor guys have a pretty bad climate for most of the year. Those who are not from here always say Chennai has only three seasons – hot, hotter and hottest. The mildest of winters with a lucky low around 18 Celsius and a high of 27 on a few days can make December and January the best months of the year; also because they are also generally not so wet.

We had the abnormal once-in-ten-years northeast monsoon in 2015, thanks once again to a strong El Nino and early December saw the awesome 50 centimetres in a space of about 30 hours on December 1-2 (predicted only by a Press Association report out of UK and carried by the BBC on its website two days before it actually rained).  So soon after the torrential rain, Chennai is facing not only a summer but also possible water shortage, caused more by distribution woes than availability this year. These are ironies of life we can ruminate over, but do we do enough about it can only be a rhetorical question.

Much of the problem facing Bengaluru in April, with temperatures sometimes touching 37 Celsius, can be  attributed to how much of a concrete jungle it has become as it grew through the ’80s, when it was Asia’s fastest growing city, with all neighbouring villages drafted into a greater metropolis. There is a cautionary tale there.  Science has a nice way of recording it, but the problem is do we learn enough from it to make a difference. For instance, we know concrete is taking over. That much is already evident from the latest Mercer report that rates so many smaller cities of India like Hyderabad and Pune as far more livable than the top five or six metros.

The threat of unplanned urbanisation is likely to affect the lives of all those living in the metros, but to believe that development can be halted and rules enforced is to live a pipedream. More and more green will be gobbled up by concrete as developers and builders carry on with their ‘licensed’ mayhem, more so in the outlying suburbs. This is particularly worrying because the water bodies and the wetlands lie there more than in city limits.  The old Madras views – particularly of Mowbray’s road as a green, tree-lined avenue – are iconic images of an older city and a more relaxed lifestyle, but which we are never going to see again.

The way ahead may also lie in planting trees. This is known to be a laborious process as they take a long time to bloom. Also, the survival rate of saplings can be very low if proper care is not taken about watering it regularly. Far greater awareness is needed in this area if we are to stand any chance of growing
sufficient trees to replace those that are cut in the city. There is no better way to assess the usefulness of the shade of trees than to stand under one and feel the difference in temperature. As the saying goes, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree long time ago.”