A cold in the head leaves one with a surreal feeling. I believe it is
due to the fact that a cold dulls one's senses - watery eyes, heavy
head, choked nose. It has left me disinclined to indulge in any
activity that does not involve resting and frequently drinking hot liquids.
Work was managed in a listless, desultory fashion. Even the most casual
conversation had to be sustained with a deliberate effort. The idea of
cancelling the scheduled visit to
the meterological observatory run
by the government did cross my mind. I left the decision to a friend rather
than burdening my woozy brain. And am I glad I went ! :D
We were shown various instruments for recording temperature, rain,
humidity, air pressure, radiation, wind speed and wind direction. For
each parameter, they use two kinds of instruments - manual, the readings
of which are taken every three hours and self-recording, that take continuous
automatic readings. What is fascinating about the self-recording instruments is that
they run on the simplest mechanical principles. No electricity, software or even winding
required, occasional cleaning and oiling does the trick. This enables the
recording of data to continue even during storms and power failures.
The simplicity of the self-recording humidity gauge is stunning. It consists of
a delicate lever suspended using human hair, yes human hair. When it is humid,
the hair straightens out and when it is dry, the hair shrinks and curls up. The lever
has a needle which is fed with ink and allowed to run over a cylindrical graph.
Voila, you have the exact humidity for every fifteen minutes of the day. These
machines have been in use since 1964 (one of them even dates back to the
1940s!). With careful handling and excellent maintenance, they are still
functioning perfectly.
By this time, I had forgotten all about my cold. We were shown how to read and
interpret all the meterological graphs for a particular day. The temperature reading for
dawn today is to be sent for special analysis - before sunrise it had dropped
to 8.4 degrees Celsius! We also asked the staff how they dealt with the
unprecedented rainfall on 26th July 2005 and heard some interesting
experiences. What is more, the observatory is located very close to the airport.
When we climbed up a dizzying spiral staircase to observe the wind gauges,
we could see bigfat airplanes landing a few hundred feet away. By special request,
we stayed up long enough to watch two more landings.
A cold is the perfect excuse for reading in bed for a whole afternoon. I have
just finished Bill Bryson's biography of Shakespeare. Not so much a history
of the man, really. It is more a history of the age he lived in. Accumulating dozens of
minor but interesting details, Bryson brings the age alive in a way few books
about the Elizabethan/ Jacobean age can. His style is delightfully chatty and
discursive and he doesn't hesitate to provide gossip about playwrights and
academics alike. The kind of book that can make a time or place "real" for
the reader, as Tridib would have put it. I plan to read his A Short History of
Nearly Everything next.
The biography of J.R.R. Tolkien by Michael Coren is also enjoyable if a little
effusive. And finally, I know exactly where I can find the hugest, glossiest and
most incredibly detailed atlas of the world I have ever seen! The first
work-free (and head-cold-free) afternoon will find me goggling at
glaciers and volcanoes and whatnot. :D