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Cheap ways to beat the heat

— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

Desi Remedy: An old lady eats ‘Pakhala’ to keep herself cool in Berhampur on Sunday.

BERHAMPUR: Everything is fair in the war against heat wave. Search is on for ways to beat the ever increasing heat wave through indigenous methods, both legal and illegal.

For the majority in Orissa air conditioners are still out of reach. But the heat wave surely cooks up ideas in the minds of Oriyas. They search for tranquilising, sedating, and cool foods and drinks to fight off harsh mosquito laden summer nights with frequent power cuts.

For a good night’s sleep people opt for watered rice or ‘Pakhala’, cold beer and marijuana.

A large number of families in the city have made Pakhala their lunch and dinner. The Pakhala now consumed at homes can be said to be a diluted version of rice beer as cooked rice is kept in water for at least two to three days before consumption allowing some fermentation to occur to add a bit of natural alcohol to it.

It makes consumption of Pakhala slightly tranquilising. Since generations Oriyas say it cools off the body and induces good sleep.

Several small restaurants of the city also started serving Pakhala during the summer months as customers after a hot tiring day usually asks for it. The sale of beer also soars with a fall in sale of spirits like rum, whisky or brandy.

There is a belief that beer has cooling effect. “But the cheapest way to beat the heat is having a drink laced with Bhang or a few strokes of Ganja,” says Rabi Panda. Marijuana is a depressant which works on the central nervous system and relaxes it.

It makes the bhang and Ganja consumers less irritated by the heat. Consumers of these illicit narcotics say it stops sweating, a major irritant during summer.

Special Correspondent from Bhubaneswar reports: Even as Bhubaneswar recorded maximum day temperature of 39.9 degrees Celsius as against Saturday’s 44 degrees Celsius, people in the interior regions of the State continued to suffer from extreme heat wave conditions on Sunday.

The places that recorded very high temperatures on Sunday include Titilagarh 44 degrees Celsius, Jharsuguda 44.1 degrees Celsius, Sundargarh 44.4 degrees Celsius and Angul 44.1 degrees Celsius.

The other towns that recorded over 40 degrees Celsius of maximum day temperature include Cuttack 40.1 degrees Celsius, Keonjhar 42.5, Sambalpur 41.4, Bolangir 43.4, Malkangiri 41.5 and Phulbani 41.2. The heat wave condition was likely to prevail over some parts of the State during the next 24 hours, according to the Weather Department. Meanwhile, the number of officially confirmed sunstroke deaths increased to 16 on Sunday.

While three deaths each had been confirmed to be due to sunstroke in the districts of Angul, Dhenkanal and Khurda, two deaths each had been reported from Puri and Jagatsinghpur.

One death each had been confirmed in Jajpur, Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur, according to the Revenue and Disaster Management Department.

A total of 72 deaths allegedly due to sunstroke had been reported from different parts of the State by Sunday.

However, during verifications by the administration it had been found that 45 of these deaths had occurred due to other reasons. Verification reports were awaited in remaining 13 cases.

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Cheap ways to beat the heat

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