Delhi *is* cold!

This article describes my current life perfectly:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/world/asia/15delhi.html

But you know what? Delhi is cold. Here's why:

• Buildings in Delhi are built to keep out heat and retain cold for the insanely hot summers (120 degrees--not looking forward to that at all!). Marble floors are not exactly ideal for cold weather. This means it is actually colder indoors, and during the day the cold from the previous night does not escape. It is 40 degrees inside my apartment at all times.
  
• There is no indoor central heating. Anywhere. I bought a measly space heater, but it doesn't help much. The heater doesn't even blow air. It just has two orange-red bars and kind of looks like the inside of a toaster oven. It's basically cooking the air immediately surrounding it. I have to sit directly in front of it to feel any heat. (This is why the outer plastic shell of my laptop monitor melted.)
  

So you may think you're tough surviving subfreezing temperatures in the US. But let me ask you this: how much time do you actually spend in those temperatures? The five minutes it takes to walk from a heated building to a heated car? Sounds like you're living in a comfortable 72 to me! Try living 24 hours in 40 degrees, and I think you'll understand why Delhiites are so cold. (Now if you're in the Himalayas and suffering 24 hours in subzero temperatures, you have legitimate reason to think we're all wimps in Delhi.)

Also, that article's description of the pollution is spot-on. All these street bonfires mix with exhaust fumes and the winter fog to create the most disgusting smog I have ever seen in my life. This makes LA's air look clean! Even my pollution mask is powerless against this smog. I literally cannot breathe. Sometimes I wonder how I'm still alive.

I'm planning to escape the cold and pollution by going to Orissa next weekend. I can't wait to relax on the beach! It's been way too long since I saw a large body of water.