How many of you have been complaining about the ‘heat’ these past couple of weeks? Okay, don’t show your hands, your guilty faces are proof enough!

Dissing the hot weather in Canada is like sneering at an unexpected inheritance from your long forgotten aunt. “O, it’s so humid, it’s like back home.” Yeah, except that back home it’s unrelenting, and almost unending but for a couple of months in December and January, the same months that we prefer to go home. And the airlines too know that. Have you done a comparison study of what the fares are in December and what it tumbles down to past the middle of January? Cool weather there leads to overheated market situation here. Is this the new interconnected world our pundits are talking about?

This summer is shaping out to be one of the best in recent memory (as I write this I am touching the wood on my desk) and I hope it stays that way for many more weeks. The last two summers were a wash-out, with monsoon-like rains reducing outdoor activities. Some of my friends who bravely plod on with their desi festivals under threatening clouds saw reduced attendance and general lethargy in the ranks as the rains swept away some of the enthusiasm. Why does it always rain on weekends? I think it’s time we did a little homage to the Sun (surya namaskar, eh) to appease the most powerful force in our solar system, to cast its smile our way more often during these months. Ironically, we have a tendency to run away from the sun when and if he/she comes calling.

By the way, I have an idea for all those who want to save the earth. Why do we have centralized air-conditioning, when room ACs can do the job without the wastage? Millions of cubic metres of air are being cooled with no human occupying that space. If I were to enter public life, I would run on the platform to ban all central air-conditioning from private residences. Now you know why I won’t come knocking on your door with a promise. You will perhaps knock me down!

Some of you perhaps know that I am a bit of a Lisa Ray worshipper as are about 23 million other men. So I am especially pleased to present her in the pages of BrownBuzz for you. May you live as full of guts and grace as she does!

- Binoy Thomas (Managing Editor)