To kill heat, chill

To kill heat, chill

The current heat wave is searing and water scarcity is prevalent in pockets across the city and around, making May the cruellest month.

Since the IPL season is still here, one may take a leaf out of French Queen Marie Antoinette’s utterances when her people were starving. The queen was so removed from life’s reality during the French Revolution, that as the story goes, when she was told the peasants had no bread to eat, she replied, “Let them eat cake!” Do we dare suggest then, that if there’s no water, let them drink beer instead.

But that’s a frivolity, and on a serious note, we wish for the weather gods to take pity on the hapless citizenry and send some showers to cool us down and grant us the much needed water.

Here’s some food for thought: It’s only in the absence of something precious that one realises the true value of it. As long as it’s there, we have no regard for it, and take it for granted. But once it goes missing from our lives, we begin to appreciate its worth. Here that precious something is water, but it is an apt allegory for many other precious things in the world.

Meanwhile, turn on the coolers, the air-conditioners and if nothing else the fans, and try to chill, cheering for your favourite teams with a large frosted mug in hand. And periodically look skywards for signs from the heavens.

Pullout

If there’s no water, take refuge in a frosted mug