Mumbai winter: India's muggy city is butt of jokes in 'winter' memes

Mumbai is experiencing unusually cold weather

Mumbai, India's muggy financial hub, is the butt of memes as it faces its coldest January in a decade.

As the mercury dropped unusually low (for Mumbai), 13.4C (56F) in parts of the coastal city, #MumbaiWinter began trending amid a blizzard of jokes.

The city is typically known for weather that is quite the opposite: unrelenting humidity and dreaded monsoon rains.

So the sudden dip in temperature has inspired a fair bit of humour among the city's own people.

"Stop making fun of #mumbaiwinter. People who stay either in 40 degrees for 6 months or constant rain for 5 months, are bound to feel cold at 20 degrees. Bhavnao ko samjho [understand our feelings]," tweeted one resident or "Mumbaikar", as the city's people are known.

Others shared images of snowed-in railway stations and frozen rivers from elsewhere, reacting to news reports of Mumbai's "winter".

And no list is complete without a sartorial meme, especially as Mumbai is home to India's most glamorous industries, Bollywood and fashion.

And the city's stylish folk have inspired jokes in the past for pulling out their leather boots and snazzy coats and jackets come winter. This time, no-one can fault them.

Of course, many people living in the city are feeling the cold and tweeting about it. So, Indians from other cities joined in to poke fun at the complaints about the cold, given that northern India - where the capital Delhi is located - experiences a proper winter, with temperatures nearing zero and even going lower.

But there are those in the city who have defended their right to enjoy the cold - and a break from the humidity.

"Yeah, we're feeling it, hence some of us have worn sweaters and demonstrated our feelings on social media, for is that not its god-given purpose?" mused filmmaker and writer Paromita Vohra in a sardonic column in the Mid-day newspaper.

She "warned" all of those people who had snickered at her Facebook post about a hearty winter stew that she will "respond appropriately when they display unseemly ecstasy about some drizzle" during their usually tame monsoon.

The cold is expected to last for a few more days before temperatures rise again.

Weather officials say the nip in the air is primarily because of a dust storm from neighbouring Pakistan, caused by a western disturbance - storm systems that form in the Middle East and bring sporadic winter rain and snow to northern India.

The impact sometimes extends to parts of central India and even the western coast.

The low temperatures also increased the concentration of pollutants in the air - Mumbai recorded its worst air quality as the levels of particulate matter reached the upper limit of the air quality index in some parts.

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