(Photo credit: Freeimages.com)
by S. Jayasankaran
It’s so hot, the cows are giving evaporated milk. – Anonymous
When we were playing in a pub in the late 1970s, the only free drink we could expect from management was ice water.
Except it was never called that. In the spirit of the booze-fuelled environment we were in, it was always sky juice on the rocks.
I’d say we need a lot more sky juice right about now, preferably falling from the heavens in bucketfuls.
There are certain things Malaysians, especially those living in Kuala Lumpur, accept with resignation. Traffic jams spring to mind.
But when did the haze become part of the Kuala Lumpur condition?
People accept the haze with the same fatalistic resignation they accord cancer. The Meteorology Dept now casually throws it into the weather mix – “hazy and hot with a 30 per cent chance of rain in the evening.”
To us elderly gents who remember the “no haze at all” years, it’s a disturbing phenomenon that began in the 1990s. Suddenly, the Indonesians, who’ve been practising “slash and burn” cultivation techniques for generations, were letting those fires get out of control. And like an invading army, smoke is no respecter of borders.
Now that we accept it, we quibble, we rationalise and, yes, we play it down if only to make us feel better.
“Yes, it’s hazy but at least you can’t smell it.”
“C’mon, it’s nowhere near 1997. Now that was a real horror. This is nothing.”
I do remember 1997 as a real horror. In late 1997, the Kuala Lumpur skyline emerged as a dystopian landscape of fog, fire and unholy smoke.
It felt like the end of the world, not least because the Asian Financial Crisis was upon us. Companies were going bust, people were losing jobs, and it appeared Pandora had simply dumped the contents of Her Box all over Southeast Asia.
The good news is this isn’t 1997, not by a long chalk.
It’s hazy and bloody hot, but it could be worse. And let’s face it, that’s something to talk about right there. I mean, if the weather didn’t change once in a while, most people wouldn’t have a conversation starter.
“I bet you doctors just love this haze. They must be minting money.”
And so on…..
Maybe climate change is behind this. I certainly don’t remember such hot nights when I was growing up. Two nights ago, I think it was still 30 degrees after 11.
Seriously, I don’t think anyone in Seremban ever had air conditioning in their houses in the 1970s but I remember, with a fan on, we still had to have blankets when we went to bed at nights.
But strange things are happening courtesy of climate change. In the northern part of Vietnam, apparently, a heatwave is causing hens to lay hard-boiled eggs.
Worse, it was so hot in Washington yesterday, the President was chagrined to see a squirrel fanning its nuts.
Finally, this weather business is unpredictable, so we should stop cursing the Meteorological Department.
Weather forecasting is a lot like sex: it may produce some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.
(The views expressed here are entirely those of the writer)
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