Living under the scorching Sun for centuries has taught locals in Rajasthan to programme their lives to the heat. Photo: iStock
In places like Bikaner, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Churu — where the proximity to the desert has always ensured coexistence with extreme temperatures — people have learnt to live with the heat. Especially during the ongoing ‘nautapa’ — a nine-day period, when the summer Sun is believed to be at its peak.
For days now, 32-year-old Hena Khan has been waking up at 4am, racing against the Sun, to finish all outdoor chores before the scorching rays make it impossible for her to step out. This includes walking the 3.5 km to the village well and back to fetch drinking water for the family. “Usually, my daughters, 11 and 10 years old, come with me to fetch water. But not now. It’s too hot for them to step out,” says the mother of three.
Her husband, Rahman, who rears livestock for a living, too, has been starting his day earlier than usual, taking the animals out to graze before the outdoors become impossibly hot.
A resident of Chanangarh village in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district, the aligning of her daily schedule to the weather is something that Hena is used to. Having been born and brought up here — amidst the vast expanse of the sandy Thar — the ferocity of the desert Sun in summer is something she is well familiar with. But each summer now, she says, the heat seems to be getting a little more intense.
In late April and earlier this month, Uttar Pradesh’s Banda hit the headlines when it became the hottest place in the country on more than one occasion. The temperature here reportedly touched 48.2 degrees on May 19. On May 22, when India held the dubious distinction of having all 50 of the world’s hottest cities, it was Balangir in Odisha, which was hottest at 45 degrees. Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region had earlier seen temperatures cross 46 degrees.
Earleir this month India held the dubious distinction of having all 50 of the world’s hottest cities. Photo: iStock
Even as these places grappled with the intensity of heat, across Rajasthan, places like Bikaner, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Churu — where the proximity to the desert has always ensured coexistence with extreme temperatures — people have learnt to live with the heat. Places like Phalodi and Sri Ganganagar have reportedly seen temperatures soar to 50-51 degrees in the past.
Earlier this month, a severe sandstorm raged through Jaisalmer, covering the district in a thick layer of dust. A similar dust storm last year had reduced Jaisalmer’s iconic fort (the subject of Satyajit Ray’s hit 1974 film Sonar Kella, of the Golden Fort, so named because of the yellow limestone of which it is made) to a mere hazy silhouette on the landscape.
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Especially during ‘nautapa’ — a nine-day period, when the summer Sun is believed to be at its peak — the heat is harsh, unyielding and relentless. This year, the ‘nautapa’ began on May 25 and will continue till June 2. While the theory itself is rooted more in traditional astrological concepts and Vedic astronomy, it coincides with the period when the Sun’s rays fall more directly on northern India, triggering intense heatwave-like conditions.
Across Rajasthan, the period sees deserted streets during the day, as if a pause button has been hit on life itself. Even daily wagers are reluctant to be outdoors during the noon hours, prompting authorities to shift the timings for work offered under employment schemes. For example, if Jaipur has shifted work timings for labourers working under government schemes from 5.30 am to 12.30 pm since May 15, in Bikaner, the shift timings have been fixed to 6am to 1 pm.
Meanwhile, Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital and many other government-run hospitals in Rajasthan have set up dedicated heat wave wards and ICUs from end of April, says Dr Deepak Maheswari, principal and controller of SMS hospital and medical college.
Migrant workers are more at risk than locals. “Those who have grown up here know how to adapt to these conditions,” says Dilip Singh Sodha, who works for the community-based organisation Seemant Lok Sangathan, in Jaisalmer. “But it is also true that temperatures have been rising.”
Across places like Jaisalmer and Jodhpur, where the economy is centred around its thriving tourism industry, the footfall during this period is minimal, forcing many hotels to slash rates, says Khalid Khan, an industry insider.
Living under the scorching Sun for centuries has taught the locals to programme their lives to the heat. Everything across Rajasthan’s blazing expanse is designed to afford relief.
In rural Barmer and Jaisalmer, traditional circular huts called jhumpas are built with thick mud walls and thatched roofs of desert grass. The mud acts as a natural insulator with high “thermal lag”, slowing down the heat transfer so effectively that the interior remains remarkably cool during the day.
In urban areas, locals point to the lattice work and jharokhas (hanging balconies) which characterise much of the local architecture. The textured, carved surfaces of the buildings create micro-shadows, reducing the surface area exposed to direct sunlight, while the holes in the latticework help in keeping the interiors cool and breezy.
Jaipur-based architect and urban planner Akanksha Modi also points out the narrow streets and higher buildings in many Rajasthan towns, especially the old quarters, which help create shade. “The height of these structures and the width of streets also had certain proportions to keep the Sun away. Wall-to-wall construction also reduces the heat gain,” she adds.
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The local diet too has evolved keeping hydration and other needs in mind. The traditional summer Rajasthani rabdi, made by boiling bajra (millet) or sorghum flour in water and left overnight to ferment “helps reduce the risk of heat exhaustion and dehydration during extreme heat waves and supports overall health by managing high blood pressure and diabetes”, when mixed with cold, salted buttermilk and roasted cumin seeds and drunk when the heat is at its peak, says Vijay Balani, a school teacher based in Jaisalmer. Onions, rich in anti-oxidant quercetin, which has heat-mitigating properties, are also consumed raw.
Architecture to diet, everything in arid Rajasthan is designed keeping the heat in mind. Photo: iStock
While all these can be lessons in heat-management for people in places like Banda and Balangir, which have started outstripping Rajasthan in their ‘hotness’ quotient, the most important thing to in the long run, perhaps, is what has set temperatures here soaring.
Temperatures have not dipped in Rajasthan, rather other places have become warmer.
“These places are congested; vehicles plying in the city release thermal energy as waste heat, which builds up on top of the ‘climatic heat’. Waste burning, ACs (increasingly ubiquitous), which expel heat back into the urban environment, are other factors,” says environmentalist Soumya Dutta.
He adds: “In Rajasthan, cities are not as densely built up, the wind flow is much better. And therefore the heat retention is lower.”
Of course, that is still of little relief to Hena and her neighbours as they hurry back home before the Sun begins its daily ascent in the sky, turning the desert into a blinding . “Typically, the village well is also a place for the women to socialise. But now no one wants to hang around and talk. Our only desire is to be back home with the water before the Sun is out,” she says.
