Typically one would expect the temperature to go down during this time of year, but this year it seems to be getting hotter. Some nights it is so hot that Anupa (my friend and roommate) sleeps on the cool cement floor. Despite the lack of monsoon rain, the rain sometimes catches us by surprise, often in the evening or early morning. In these instances, delicate raindrops begin drawing delicate designs and then rapidly evaporating on the hot pavement, warning us of an oncoming storm. Soon the rain transforms. Heavy raindrops beat down on to the earth, pooling across the pavement as people scurry about trying to stay dry. After the storm passes, a cooling calm rolls over the campus and people move about, merrily enjoying a break from the hot sun.
I saw many animals this week, including cats, monitor lizards (do you remember the scaly lizard sitting on Jalan Biawak?) and a civet cat.
The civet cat! My friend and I were playing tennis when all of a sudden a small furry creature, shaped like a robust ferret, began rapidly slinking across the top of the tennis court fence. Snaking its way across the fence, it stopped when it saw the light post and deftly jumped, grasping the post and scuttling toward the top. Presumably not finding what it desired, it dashed back across the fence and headed into the woods, probably looking for a sport it prefers better than tennis.
