The heat is on, quite literally, and people are no longer just walking on the street. They are rushing across it. See, their first concern is not the errand at hand; their first concern is to escape from the heat. The heat is on, granted, but where are the umbrellas, the sight of which we are so accustomed to during the wet season? Or are they just for that –the rainy season? Come to think of it; what are umbrellas for, if not to guarantee protection against extremities of weather? Those extremities of weather include both rainfall and overbearing sun heat. Umva, umbrella is actually derived from the Latin word, Umbra, which means shade. Which brings me to the suspicion that whoever invented it must have had the sun in mind, because we generally tend to seek refuge under the shade when the sun is burning too hot, rather than when the skies open up. No wonder the umbrella is shaped like a typical tree canopy. Today, the umbrella is increasingly synonymous with rain, that if you randomly asked a sample group about its use, majority are likely to tell you it offers “protection from rain”. Save for kids and a few ladies, the rest of the adult population seem to have developed an acute allergy to umbrellas. A man wielding an umbrella is likely to be singled out and branded a “sissy” by other “real men”. The few times I have seen a man armed with an umbrella, he was holding it for someone else more deserving, usually, of course, a woman. The umbrella is not alone in as far as its necessity in the dry season has been relegated by large sections of today’s society. Just like we all seem to loathe umbrellas lately, the culture of wearing sunglasses also seems to be on its way out. Soon, “sunglassing” will be a forgotten art altogether. People no longer don glasses or shades in anticipation of a very hot day. Instead, they do it while going out to the clubs at night. Others have never tolerated viewing the world through sunglasses, regarding it as a thing best left for teenagers on a beach outing. There was a time in the past, when dark shades and sunglasses used to be associated with the high life, such that if one wore a pair, they were immediately christened a “life-ist” (one who loves enjoying life). A man in dark shades was often viewed just as suspiciously as the one wearing shorts. It was always concluded that such a man had missed out on the crucial youthful stage of his life, and was now exacting his “revenge”. The dry season makes you think of asking tough questions as well: does the plant kingdom have an inbuilt mechanism that forewarns them of impending drought so they can plan ahead of time? What about the boys who mow your lawns? Are they still in business? Do you still give them business on schedule, or you now have to ask them to only come when you’ve called them?
