February Is Here! (Bye-bye, January)

 Welcome to February! That's it, now don't expect me to be happy about it. For many of us, January involved the achievement or fulfillment of certain goals we had set. To those of you, I say this: Take a hike. Flex your actual muscles if they're big enough, but apart from that, don't even try to flex. 

There are reasons for this. Firstly, I may or may not be one of the people who blows a raspberry in your face after I hear all of your fulfilled goals. Secondly, I will most definitely be one of those people who zone out while you describe your journey of self-discovery or fulfillment. I'm not usually one of those people who do this, but for you, I'll make an exception. Now that's how you make someone feel special while you're planning to do the exact opposite of what they want.

Jokes aside, I'm all for a good chat, as long as it doesn't involve extensive research. For the past year-and-a-half, chatting and researching and completing assignments is all we've been doing, so it's better if we shook things up a bit. 

February is a good month, if I'm being honest. It speeds away faster than a student pursued by a street dog, but is actually a very significant time. It's not significant because I'm saying so; we have CISCE to thank for that. CBSE, too, but I'm not as familiar with their schedule, so pardon my errors. 

Every year, after a delightfully cold January and an unexpectedly nippy February, students sit themselves down on cold-ish chairs and give exams. They are most definitely necessary, but also a gigantic pain. The painful part is more due to the importance associated with the exams rather than the exams themselves. ICSE is comparatively simpler than ISC, but then again, the indoor puddle is always easier to step into than the Pacific Ocean. 

It's like a huge shock, isn't it? Not the exams, exactly, but the fact that January's already over. And more than the fact that it's just over; it's the fact that the other months are coming on apace now. February will whoosh by, and all of a sudden you're well into March and sweating buckets in April and May. 

Not if you live in the hills, though. There, you begin to sweat in late May. Unless you've got exams. In that case, you try to start sweating in February, although it becomes physically possible to do so only in late March. It's one of the few perks of the cold, although you have to put up with limited healthcare, bad roads and chilblains. Whoever said hill stations weren't fun?

I'm still in Calcutta, and once again, it feels great. Slightly cold in the evenings, a hint of a breeze here and there. It's very pleasant. Until you go out during the day. In that case, you might sweat more than you would have expected, or it might just be me. In fact, that's probably the case. Most of the people I see during the day still have shawls or jackets around them, which really throws me off. 

I begin to wonder if there's something wrong with me, until I realize 2 things:
1. I already know there's something wrong with me, so the question ought to be if there's something further wrong with me which I ought to remember now. 
2. I don't feel the cold, but I definitely feel the heat. Once again, courtesy living in a hill station.

I just realized it's been a month since I last drove a scooty or put on a pair of gloves. Frankly, that isn't an issue. I'm enjoying myself in this weather, primarily because I don't have to wear five layers of warm clothing just to ensure I don't shiver. Yes, I feel the cold more than most people do. I'm lacking the layer of blubber which many people possess, so there. 

I just had to say that last part; it's fun to create an imaginary convo and then deliver the perfect comeback. Winston Churchill used to do it while sitting in the bath-tub; lesser mortals(in terms of racism levels) do it while daydreaming. I believe that's it for today; take care, everyone. Welcome to Level 25, Vol.2 of Jumanji. Adios!