JOIN USLemonade, onions do the trick to keep heat at bay
Naseem Haider laboriously digs at a Metro construction site in the scorching heat day after day.
As he swings his arms, sweat trickles down his face and falls on his already drenched shirt. The sun blazes down as the day progresses, but this hardly bothers him as he has learnt to brave the heat.
Haider doesn’t really have a choice as he is a daily wager and cannot let a little thing like the heat come in the way of his livelihood. “I don’t have the luxury of relaxing and taking it easy because it is so hot. I have my own ways of braving the heat,” Haider said as he took a short lunch break under a nearby tree. His lunch consisted of some ‘roti-pyaz’ (chappatis and onions) followed by loads of water.
“The pyaz is the best antidote. I have been eating it for a long time. I had never had a heat stroke. Water is the next best thing. I survive on just these two things,” he said.
Like Haider, who is originally from Bihar, there are many in the city who don’t have the luxury of staying indoors when the sun is at its peak. Most of these labourers and vendors brave the heat as they have to earn their living. They have their own ways — some rely on ‘nimbu-paani’ (lemonade), while others use a wet towel to cover their head.
“Hot or cold, my body has got used to all kinds of weather. It doesn’t matter any more. During this time, I wet my gamcha (towel) with water and put it on my head and neck. It helps to cool my head,” said Babu Lal, who vends knick-knacks at the Janpath crossing.
Rain cools city, respite likely to be brief
Residents in the capital might be rejoicing with the short spell of rain (14.6 mm) the city had on Thursday evening, but officials in Met department said it was a temporary phenomenon and it will be a while before the mercury level takes a dip, reports DHNS from New Delhi.
“But that will not reduce the overall temperature as this rain is in itself a result of the heat that the city is witnessing. It is a localised and temporary phenomenon, something that occurs in the month of May-June,” said an official with IMD.
The temperature had soared to 43.2 degrees Celsius before brief showers brought sudden relief. The next few days are not expected to offer much respite, though there could be similar brief spells in the next few days. But Ashish Sahoo, an IT professional, said, “Even just overcast conditions bring delight at this time, so the rains were more than welcome.”