When I chanced to look at the map of the world today, I noticed that Seattle (where I am currently located) is almost level with many European nations in terms of geographic latitude, even though it is one of the Northern-most cities in the United States.

One of the striking differences in day-to-day life when someone moves from India to the US is the length of the day. Back in Mumbai, a long summer day meant thirteen hours of daylight, but up here it would mean something like sixteen hours of bright daylight. Winter nights are just as long, and certainly as dreary as you would expect.

This made me wonder if there was some kind of human disposition to flourish in a certain kind of climate. Is the routine of the tropics better for the biological clock? Certainly, summers and winters are far more conspicuous in the temperate zones, providing a clock of sorts to keep track of the years. ("Another winter has finally passed....").

I always loved the ever-so-moderate climate of Mumbai, but now I think the variety offered by an extreme climate is almost as likeable.