Indie chill afternoon.
Spotify’s daylist is cracking me up.
Supposedly the platform’s machine learning has me figured out. Supposedly my thrice-daily predictions are a whole mood.
Lately those moods have bounced from “yoga chill” to “campfire” with a splash of “Latin energy.”
(Ok, so maybe Spotify’s not entirely off.)
It’s leaving season again. Not for us this year at least. We’re still a year out from our own transfer to the next post. But I’m still acutely feeling all the things one feels this time of year when one’s life is measured in 2-4 year increments. Leaving season snuck up on me as it always does and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that “melancholy” has shown up in the daylist once or twice. It’s wheels up for a good friend this week and I’m firmly entrenched in denial that she’ll no longer be close enough for impromptu coffee dates.
I keep telling myself that I would have been more ready if I hadn’t been in the States for work for most of May. But I’m not entirely convinced that’s actually true.
Maybe there’d be a little less “boots” in the mix if I hadn’t spent as many hours riding a bus through rural Virginia as I did, but that’s a big maybe. Country’s twang is a strong balm for a tender heart no matter where I find myself in the world.
Of course, it’s not just the leaving season making my heart tender. A 15-hour flight and a week’s worth of jet lag haven’t given enough distance to stop comparing there and here. There: Target, tacos, ease. Here: a different sort of ease that makes me acutely aware of and feeling quite guilty of my immense privilege.
To say that it’s been hotter than hell in Delhi is no exaggeration. Temps have pushed up over 45C (113F) and everything is at snapping point. Power outages due to grid strain and/or load shedding are just part of life right now. As is a “summer water crisis” that has the Delhi Jal Board rationing water supply. It’s miserable and getting more miserable. I can’t help but think of our more vulnerable neighbors every time I open the tap to fill a drinking water pitcher. (Cool, clean water is something I no longer and will never take for granted ever again.)
No wonder there’s a massive clear out for the summer by those who have the means to.
Between friends leaving Delhi permanently and friends leaving temporarily for a bit of R+R, it’s about to get real quiet around here.
Or, as least as quiet as a city that is never quiet can be.
Maybe just quiet enough for an indie chill mellow Saturday afternoon.
Maybe.
Photo by Natalie Cardona on Unsplash
