Handling the heat
While driving to a meeting yesterday afternoon my Google navigation suddenly stopped. My Android phone showed a message saying, “your device needs to cool down”. I had to wait for 15 minutes under the hot sun with outside temperature close to 45˙C for the navigation to start again. I am not sure whether it was the outside heat or some problem with the Google’s Map App, but it forced me to think, “what if the current high temperatures in most parts of India become a norm and we witness a few weeks of intense heat wave conditions every summer”? There have been multiple cases of air-conditioners malfunctioning in the past couple of weeks, causing fire in premises and loss of precious lives. Almost all cities and towns are reporting disruption in power distribution due to breakdown in transformers and cables, caused by excessive heat and overloading. On enquiry, I found that there has been a sharp rise in cases of breakdown in household electrical appliances like refrigerators, microwave o...