Air conditioners - an under-celebrated force!
Trigger warning for all the climate activists
It's that time of the year again. With rising temperatures (increasingly so) and even poorer temperament, air-conditioners are a godsend. ACs leave you at least one less problem to deal with, always. Think of this — you are injured and you are lying on your bed. It's peak summer and you are feeling hot. Fans aren't helping. Here comes the AC, and the heat goes away. So now it's just your injury that you are worried about. Or think of this — you are in an exam hall and unable to solve a math problem. The exam hall does not have AC, fans aren't helping and of course, you are feeling hot too. Here comes the AC, the heat goes away. So now it's just you and your math problem. In this space of one less thing to worry about, ACs almost end up fostering introspection. If you are injured and in the heat, you would end up feeling ki “yaar garmi se dimaag kharab ho raha”. If you are in the exam hall and unable to solve that math problem in the heat, you would most likely end up saying “yaar garmi mein dimaag hi nai chal raha”. Welcome ACs, the heat is gone and hence the feeling of “yaar garmi…”. So now you are left with just feeling the injury and feeling stupid, respectively. ACs are a godsend, they make us comfortable and confront us with deeper existential questions.
The seemingly trivial act of switching on the air-conditioner and basking in its cool aura wasn't always so nonchalant. Growing up in a family (and society) which romanticized struggle and undertook any act of expensive purchase as social non-conformity, ACs were a rarity. ACs at that time were mostly available in some rich relative’s place or the school’s computer lab. Without commenting on whether going to that rich relative’s place was enjoyable, experiencing the AC surely was. It felt like you were transported into a cocoon, a world which was so different from just a minute ago. From a world which felt like draining all the energy into a world which was giving. For a moment, you too were rubbing shoulders with the rich. Dreaming of one day having an AC for yourself.
Walking into the computer lab, with just socks on (shoes were to be opened outside warna computer mein joota ka virus chala jaega) was a different dimension of being. You were walking into heaven (aur aajkal kuch log anatkwaad ke jariye jannat khoj rahe. What a pity!). The tiny feet on the cold floors felt so warm. It was also when you discovered that the forearms on the table didn't get sweaty, even after being in prolonged contact. Wow! The end of the once-a-week visit to the sacred computer lab would feel sad but also inspire hope. Hope that god exists in various forms on this lowly land and we experience him/her in various forms — the humble ACs being one of them.
At home, summers were a video game but in real. We had coolers. These air coolers rely on water for two things. One, to convert hot air to cold and second, to add that oomph factor. The tiny water droplets would get subtly sprinkled out and if you slept close enough, the subtle sprinkled water would bathe you with the oomph. A word of caution — sleep at least two hands away from the grill of the cooler fan. One hand to avoid direct contact (otherwise you risk waking up suddenly to see your own blood spewed everywhere) and another one as a buffer just in case you rolled over once in sleep. For those wondering — what if someone rolls over twice or thrice or say, nth times (where n>2). I am sad to break it to you but the rooms were small, shared and the brains were trained to occupy just 2x the volume of your body. While also it’s worth noting that the soul had to exist in 1x. Bodies were tangible and made room for, souls were intangible and had to be suffocated/shrunk. Lucky bodies!
I lived in a two-storied house shared by ‘x’ number of families. ‘x’ because I am unable to define families, whether it makes sense to look at it at my grandfather level or father level or just self. This sense is lost since there was constant kalesh and separation (not necessarily physical). Let's just say there were lot of people. I slept in the second-floor room, just below the terrace. It became a furnace with direct heat from the top. If you went to the room during the day — the mattress, the bed sheet, the blanket, everything would feel hot and miserable. So when it was evening-ish, we (me + brother/cousin) went to the terrace and spilled a lot of water on the surface of the terrace just above my room. By the time, it was time to sleep, the water (makes me think — water is so fungible. Oh yes, it can drown people too :( ) would make some heat evaporate. Also, about an hour before you wanted (read had) to sleep, you went to the room and switched on the water cooler. You would also loosen the blanket and place it in such a way that it got some direct cool air. Please note you couldn't just keep the cooler running a lot before the actual sleep time since it consumes water and electricity. Again, I am sad to break it to you but you can't be seen using too much of either. Water was rationed and electricity was paid for. I don't really know if we had to really care but there existed a family culture that looked at these aspects with pride. You can't hurt pride. Pride 2x, living 0.5x.
These coolers occasionally gave electric shocks if you accidentally touched them. So you had to be careful in operating them. Also, they made sounds and probably louder than the sound of your thoughts and/or emotions. But you get used to it and surrender into sleep. With ACs, there’s no/minimal sound, so you are left just with your thoughts and/or emotions. No wonder, sleeping in ACs require real effort. ACs like I said foster self-reflection and are a godsend!
ACs were such a craving that I spent a significant amount of my undergrad school in the library. A mighty place and every inch of the place was air-conditioned. This realization itself was so magnanimous, that the glory of the AC felt small. When I started work, the air-conditioned office space just seemed to be lacking a sleeping place. Everything else about it was perfect. It gave you a meaningful avenue to spend time, helped with social validation, and yes, money. But the real deal is that it gave you full-time air conditioning. You had no reason to go back to your apartment or whatever name exists for those four walls where your body lived — no families and not-so-close friends! I couldn't imagine spending so much time in the library and the office if not for the AC! Garmi mein na toh padhai achchi lagti aur na kaam. In fact, I wouldn’t have written this piece if not being seated comfortably in the cool breeze that the magic of an AC spews. Garmi mein dil aur dimaag kharab hi rehta hai! :D
