239
bly to equalize external and internal temperatures,
I had heard about this equalizing of temperatures before, but must confess, I always suspected trickery:
I remember back home in Russia seeing people who ashamed of openly drinking a glass of vodka, especially a second or a third, would hide behind an elbow or a sleeve: this seems to me to be the same thing. Some even embellish this trickery with a reference to rum and cognac being provided they say, by design, by a hot climate for this equalization... I don't recommend resorting to this method: it means upsetting the fitness of one's stomach with considerable irritation, quadrupling the intensity of the heat and then dropping with exhaustion as a result of the strain. I once heeded this advice and by way of experiment tried to equalize the two temperatures. The result was unbearable torture that lasted a whole day. There was nothing I could do, nothing to quench the searing dryness in my throat and stomach.
On the contrary, on abstention from meat, and all heavy food, as from spices (never mind that they also come from hot places), but most of all from wine, one easily endures the heat; the chest, the head and the lungs are in a normal state and the intense heat only aggravates one on the outside. I am sure that if in one's food one continually used rice, vegetables, a bit of fish and poultry, it would be possible to bear the heat just as easily as in Russia. But...but P.A.T. won't let you live as you wish, even in India and in China: he looks at you so suspiciously if at dinner you refuse lamb or pork, or puff-pastry pie - just wait for him to take umbrage and ask: "Is something wrong with the lamb, is the pie stale?" or addressing everyone he'll exclaim pathetically: “Just look gentlemen: he doesn't like the cuisine! If my instructions are unsatisfactory, if I'm incapable, if I don't know how, then pick someone else..." No, it's better to suffer from the heat come what may!
Jang
Having rested, we continued down the street, looking at the palaces, at the splendid driveways, the cool vestibules, the airy galleries, the tightly locked windows. There are no signs of life to be seen in the houses, but meanwhile coolies run in and out of them, carrying goods, letters. Englishmen enter and exit under huge umbrellas, wearing straw or linen hats and everyone of them, and ourselves as well, in white
239
bly to equalize external and internal temperatures,
I had heard about this equalizing of temperatures before, but must confess, I always suspected trickery:
I remember back home in Russia seeing people who ashamed of openly drinking a glass of vodka, especially a second or a third, would hide behind an elbow or a sleeve: this seems to me to be the same thing. Some even embellish this trickery with a reference to rum and cognac being provided they say, by design, by a hot climate for this equalization... I don't recommend resorting to this method: it means upsetting the fitness of one's stomach with considerable irritation, qua- drupling the intensity of the heat and then dropping with exhaustion as a result of the strain. I once heeded this advice and by way of experi- ment tried to equalize the two temperatures. The result was unbearable torture that lasted a whole day. There was nothing I could do, nothing to quench the searing dryness in my throat and stomach.
On the contrary, on abstention from meat, and all heavy food, as from spices (never mind that they also come from hot places), but most of all from wine, one easily endures the heat; the chest, the head and the lungs are in a normal state and the intense heat only aggravates one on the outside. I am sure that if in one's food one continually used rice, vegetables, a bit of fish and poultry, it would be possible to bear the heat just as easily as in Russia. But...but P.A.T. won't let you live as you wish, even in India and in China: he looks at you so suspiciously if at dinner you refuse lamb or pork, or puffpastry pie - just wait for him to take umbrage and ask: "Is something wrong with the lamb, is the pie stale?" or addressing everyone he'll exclaim pathetically: “Just look gentlemen: he doesn't like the cuisine! If my instructions are unsatisfactory, if I'm incapable, if I don't know how, then pick some- one else..." No, it's better to suffer from the heat come what may!
Jang
Having rested, we continued down the street, looking at the pal- aces, at the splendid driveways, the cool vestibules, the airy galleries, the tightly locked windows. There are no signs of life to be seen in the houses, but meanwhile coolies run in and out of them, carrying goods, letters. Englishmen enter and exit under huge umbrellas, wearing straw or linen hats and everyone of them, and ourselves as well, in white
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