It's now 8:20 AM, and the sun is already beating. Ambient temperature: 39° C. In a few moments, it will be soaring to 44° C. The room temperature is likely to be in excess of 46°. When I turn the computer on, the system temperature shows 51° C - when the case is opened up. This might well be the ambient temperature of my room, it being on the first floor of a two-storeyed house. My computer refuses to run as well. CPU Core Temperature: 54° C ...
A fan doesn't cut it anymore. All it does is circulate hot air.
ACs are not an option because it sucks a lot of power and we are already paying our assess off.
An air cooler is no good since it humidifies the air, and I have to run a computer here.
What next?
Well the mantra (or should I say, mom's order) seems to be moving from
An-Hour-A-Shower to
A-Shower-An-Hour, since the only way to beat the heat is to perhaps shower every hour or so. But be prepared to be greeted with water running at between 50°-60° C. That's because some bright mind had the idea to paint the water storage tanker
black, let it be non-insulated, and kept on the terrace at the very top. One might as well install a solar water-heating panel; though judging by the temperature the water is already at, that seems wholly unnecessary.
While someone did come up with the idea to paint water tankers black, no one seems to have figured out a way to install water coolers in domestic plumbing. For winters, we have geysers alright, but what about the summers?
The Met department has no clue about the monsoon (annual rain clouds), which is already two weeks late by now. Such is the heat that the roads are deserted by 10 AM, and remain so until sundown. All schools have already been ordered closed until the 30th of June.
Perhaps the only respite is that (thanks to President's rule - or, in light of recent political upheavals - a non-Laloo rule) electricity supply is nearly 24/7, with a couple power cuts a day, each lasting 5 minutes at the max. (Even though I'm guilty of saying so - people in most of the other parts of the city are living in heavy power crisis, and consequently, an acute water crisis). Even with regular power supply, in my case, that brings us back to the question of whether a fan is enough or not.
Perhaps. Perhaps not. For many, air-conditioning is an absolute necessity, while some have to make-do with folded newspapers (you get the picture). All I can hope for is that the monsoon arrives soon. We learnt that rhyme in pre-school - "Rain, rain, go away." What nonsense!
