Its Summer Time Again

Summer is upon me like revenge. The heat outside is like my enemy waiting with a steel sword ready to slice me up, melt me down and leave me gasping for breath.

I am in Nagpur city, the hottest place in the country today. The temperatures soaring at 42*C on 31^st March. I am sweating under the fan. My daughter doesn't think twice before switching on the A.C!

I am reminded of hot summers in Delhi 1990s. I was doing post-grad. and living as a P.G.

The Loo/Andhi (hot dust storms common in the Delhi summers) had started early that year and we had just began with our term exams. I had come from Assam and had never experienced this kind of heat where the roads melt and the hot air hits you like a bulldozer!

Ice-cold water, coolers, A.Cs were luxuries no student could afford in those days.

We felt so grateful for the land-lady’s cold water and ice from her fridge.

Water-melons sliced into pink cubes, yellow-green lemons on soda bottles kept in a bucket of ice-water tempted us on DTC bus-stops.

Water had to be collected early morning and stored in buckets to have a nice cold bath or be prepared to be scorched by boiling hot water from the tap.

The rooms were darkened with sheets, some students even put black paper on the window panes!

I had an earthen pot, ghara, with water in my room and there was lovely chilled water in it when I returned from the university.

Now we don’t spare a thought to sleeping the night in an air-conditioned room, Sipping cold water, adding ice-cubes to drinks, cooling the house with a ‘desert-cooler’ all  day, travelling by A.C  everywhere and yet grumble and swear at the heat!

These are no longer luxuries for us, but let’s spare a second thought before we use them. They are after all still out reach of many.