Welcome to India...AKA The Land Where I Sweat Always

I may have mentioned in the past that I'm sick of talking about the weather. Living in Southern California (So-Cal to the locals) and having moved from Chicago, everyone here wants to talk about how cold it is back home and how I must be loving this mild weather. Meanwhile, back home in the windy city, all my friends and family talk about how they are sick of the cold and how jealous they are of my new, more mild climate. Therefore, I'm sick of talking about the weather. It may come as a surprise to you then that this blog entry is about just that.
Two weeks ago, it was sunny and 70 in Los Angeles, just like it is most days it seems, and I was on my way to the airport (LAX to be exact). It was from this international hub that I departed on my journey to the far off land of India. Turns out, however, that I needed to stop off in London for a bit (7 hours to be exact) and wait for a different plane to complete my journey. No worries, I have a friend in London and perhaps he'd like to grab a bite to eat and have a couple pints. He agreed. So I left London Heathrow airport to meet my friend and was greeting by a dreary overcast day with temperatures hovering around the mid-40's. I hadn't considered that I was going to be in cold weather and I was hardly dressed for the occasion. It was quite uncomfortable.
A couple of pints and a lot of chicken later, I was back on a plane towards the mystical land of tigers, elephants, and cobras. A couple of movies and a few naps after that the plane was in its final descent into Bombay (now called its original name of Mumbai) where we landed and exited the aircraft.
Now, having boarded the plane from a quite chilly 45 degrees, my mind wasn't ready for what happened next. I took one step out of the plane and the hot stale air of India hit me like a sock full of quarters to the face. From there it only took 10 steps for me to start pouring sweat (for those of you that know me well enough, you understand that the use of the word "pouring" in this context is quite an understatement). 10 minutes later, I was still walking through the terminal trying to reach the baggage claim while fighting off dehydration. This was not a good first impression of India. Don't these people know of the 8th wonder of the world called "air conditioning?"
My point is this: I hate talking about the weather, but it's a pretty hard topic to avoid when you are quite visibly the sweatiest man on the continent.
Now, given this experience, when someone wants to chat about the weather, I can always say, "Sure is hot, but at least it's not 'India hot'. Have you ever been to India?" The weather can now be my segue into bragging about world traveling. Perhaps there are worse things to talk about.

Til Next Time.

States: 24
Countries: 5

P.S. If jet lag is the term used to describe the difficulty your body has adjusting your sleep schedule to a new time zone, is there a term for the difficulty of adjusting to a new meal schedule? I seem to be hungry at the most peculiar times. I wish I knew how to describe what I'm going through accurately and with the utmost brevity, but I know of no such word or phrase. Sigh. I'm hungry.

This Post For Those With Limited Attention Spans:
Chicago is cold.
London is dreary.
India makes me sweat.
Let's stop talking about the weather.