Prior to this most recent trip, I had only ever visited Pakistan in December, with trips sometimes leaking into January. December/January weather in south Pakistan is delightful. During the days on our prior three trips, it was not hot at all and maybe even cool-ish. During the nights, my brother in law once looked shocked that I would head out to dinner without a jacket in the "freezing" 65 degree Fahrenheit weather. Those are basically ideal temperatures for me to be in, regardless of where in the world I am.
I was nervous that traveling two months before our usual window would mean it would be unbearably hot for me, and got conflicting reports about what to expect. A friend said October was one of the worst months for "loo" - some kind of sweltering heatwave. My sister-in-law traveled the year beforehand in October and said it had been fine. We were pigeonholed into our travel dates with no wiggle room at all, so I would just have to deal with whatever it was.
And it was hot. Not unbearably so, I guess, since I obviously bore it. But for me, for mid-sixties loving me, it was was whatever rests just underneath bearable. Barely bearable. I know other wives of Pakistanis who've traveled there in summer months but I think I just could not cope.
It was in the high nineties during the days, and maybe the eighties during the evenings. M's family house in Karachi has no air conditioning at all, not even any "room coolers" which sound like fans connected to water misters that people drag from room to room but take less electricity than a/c units. His house doesn't even have any ventilation, it's a concrete box and while there used to be high-up windows that would help with air circulation, they were cemented shut since I was there last to reduce dust buildup inside. Every room has a ceiling fan and our room also had another standing fan. Sometimes when we were eating lunch or dinner they would turn the ceiling fan off so our food didn't cool down and instantly beads of sweat would be falling into my plate.
The electricity would also go out a lot more than it used to. They have a generator, but it had fallen into disrepair since we'd been there last. So when the electricity went out, my MIL or BIL or husband would have to spend a long time trying and re-trying to get the generator to turn over and start. Sometimes this would take ten minutes and sometimes it would take an hour. It didn't matter how long it took because every morning at 7am when the electricity went out and our ceiling fan stopped rotating, I was awake immediately and could not sleep anymore. I needed constant, direct air circulation from the two different fans in our room to be able to sleep in the 80+ degree weather. At our house in the US, we have the air conditioning set to 74 in the summer and 68 in the winter, so 80+ or 90 degree weather was too hot for me to sleep in. I know people all over the world sleep well in much, much hotter temperatures and it's not a passing of judgement, it's just what I'm used to.
My son also had a hard time, especially in the beginning. He complained about how hot it was and I was concerned that he might be miserable the whole time. He adapted much quicker than I did, though, and after two or three days didn't mention the heat again until maybe the last day. We had a couple of days when we were out in the hottest part of the hottest days we were there, and we did all we could to keep him cool. We forced water into him and kept his hair and shirt wet, pouring bottled water over his head. All the other kids looked fine and he was drenched and red-faced but still happily playing cricket and running around like a crazy person.
I was nervous that traveling two months before our usual window would mean it would be unbearably hot for me, and got conflicting reports about what to expect. A friend said October was one of the worst months for "loo" - some kind of sweltering heatwave. My sister-in-law traveled the year beforehand in October and said it had been fine. We were pigeonholed into our travel dates with no wiggle room at all, so I would just have to deal with whatever it was.
And it was hot. Not unbearably so, I guess, since I obviously bore it. But for me, for mid-sixties loving me, it was was whatever rests just underneath bearable. Barely bearable. I know other wives of Pakistanis who've traveled there in summer months but I think I just could not cope.
It was in the high nineties during the days, and maybe the eighties during the evenings. M's family house in Karachi has no air conditioning at all, not even any "room coolers" which sound like fans connected to water misters that people drag from room to room but take less electricity than a/c units. His house doesn't even have any ventilation, it's a concrete box and while there used to be high-up windows that would help with air circulation, they were cemented shut since I was there last to reduce dust buildup inside. Every room has a ceiling fan and our room also had another standing fan. Sometimes when we were eating lunch or dinner they would turn the ceiling fan off so our food didn't cool down and instantly beads of sweat would be falling into my plate.
The electricity would also go out a lot more than it used to. They have a generator, but it had fallen into disrepair since we'd been there last. So when the electricity went out, my MIL or BIL or husband would have to spend a long time trying and re-trying to get the generator to turn over and start. Sometimes this would take ten minutes and sometimes it would take an hour. It didn't matter how long it took because every morning at 7am when the electricity went out and our ceiling fan stopped rotating, I was awake immediately and could not sleep anymore. I needed constant, direct air circulation from the two different fans in our room to be able to sleep in the 80+ degree weather. At our house in the US, we have the air conditioning set to 74 in the summer and 68 in the winter, so 80+ or 90 degree weather was too hot for me to sleep in. I know people all over the world sleep well in much, much hotter temperatures and it's not a passing of judgement, it's just what I'm used to.
My son also had a hard time, especially in the beginning. He complained about how hot it was and I was concerned that he might be miserable the whole time. He adapted much quicker than I did, though, and after two or three days didn't mention the heat again until maybe the last day. We had a couple of days when we were out in the hottest part of the hottest days we were there, and we did all we could to keep him cool. We forced water into him and kept his hair and shirt wet, pouring bottled water over his head. All the other kids looked fine and he was drenched and red-faced but still happily playing cricket and running around like a crazy person.
4 comments:
Have you ever been to Islamabad?
Oh girl, I can identify with the weather change. I've been on two trips to Islamabad, Pakistan. One was in September and the other the following July. I thought I was going to die. I know that people say that all the time. But it was literal for me. My husband's home doesn't have A/C either. They bought an A/C unit for our bedroom but it didn't work most of the time because either it was too hot for it to run... and there wasn't enough power voltage in the lines to carry it OR during loadshedding hours the generator didn't work. Grr! As my in laws say, "Welcome to Pakistan". Ha! I live in the southern US so I thought for sure I could handle the heat. But it was too tough. Maybe during our next visit we will go in March!
:) insha'Allah we will be going in October next year.. although hubby wanted to go during Ramadhan.. April was bad enough for me the other year and thats as summer as Im ever going to go!! ;)
Hello :)
I am currently living in Peshawar with my in-laws, husband, and our 9 month old daughter. I can tell you, the summers are HELL. I have been here in 2008 (May-July) 2010 (June-July) and now 2012-2013 (June-this coming May)
I am from Washington State, so hot weather isn't really in my vocabulary lol. We manage but with the loadshedding getting so bad up here in the Khyber region, it's horrible. You can imagine how awful I felt for our precious 2 month old when the temps were hitting the 100's and higher without electricity or a working generator! We thankfully have an A/C but it doesn't do much good when there's a low voltage or no power at all.
Gori and Khan
Perhaps you could get a stabilizer? It converts low voltages into higher voltages needed to run an A/C. My husband, S, got one for us back in 2010 and it's been a lifesaver for these horrible heat waves!
By the way, it is so WONDERFUL to read this blog. I suddenly don't feel so alone!
Post a Comment