Skip to main content

They call the wind Mariah - the Mongolian wind


I was warned about the wind. Winter wind is unrelenting. Daylight was from 8:15 am to 5:58 pm today, with temperatures ranging from a low of -28C to a maximum of -20C and winds of 44 kilometres per hour. In these temperatures, the wind bites. It cuts. It stings. It makes tears run down your face. It is not for the faint-hearted or faint-skinned. My white cheeks turned red in a millisecond. The forecast for Monday next week is for a dreaded low of -37C, and that’s not taking the wind chill factor into account.

I have a toasty warm, modern, well equipped apartment on the east side of the capital Ulaanbaatar (UB). Everyone calls it UB. The car is toasty warm. And the office is kept at a (warm, they say) 18C, although not warm enough for me. But in my layers of clothes, I am toasty warm in the office.

It is not a winter wonderland. I don’t find snow attractive. There is not a blade of grass to be seen. UB is concrete, steel, snow and ice. Construction is booming, and so are the industries. It’s an industrial town. With industry brings air pollution. With fast-paced progress brings street litter – bottles, plastic bags, paper, cigarette packets, and an assortment of rubbish – mainly construction debris. Paradise is beyond UB – in the countryside – but not in UB. With the wind, plastic bags are whipped into the air, thousands of them, adding to the air pollution. They stick to buildings and light posts and children’s playground equipment. But mostly they just turn around and around in the air as if they’re in a washing machine – a grey washing machine. Visibility is about 10 kilometres because there’s just too much stuff in the air.

People wait for summer, when snow melts and there is beauty in The Land of the Blue Sky. The farmers don’t wait for summer. They like winter – it’s their favourite season because it’s a time of rest. There is much to do in spring and summer. Spring, in particular, is a crucial time for farmers because it is dry, dusty and windy and if there is no food in spring their weaker animals die. They say people die then too.

But there’s no spring in sight yet. The temperatures remain below zero until April. The travel season begins in mid-May. And as I sit in my apartment, I can hear the wind whistling through the windows, loudly. The whistling reaches a crescendo like a kettle boiling, then dies down and begins again with more vigour - relentlessly. I think I’ll put the kettle on and have a good cup of tea. Contrary to foreigners’ advice that the tea is of poor quality here, I find it quite perfect, which is probably why the Mongolians are big tea drinkers. They almost never start a meal until they’ve had a cup of tea first, to aid digestion.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more