India’s growing AC divide

Rising temperatures are fast turning ACs into a necessity. Yet, people who are the most vulnerable to the ravages of heat still cannot afford them.

Dilip, a restaurant worker in Govandi, an eastern Mumbai suburb, is no stranger to heat. Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, he has experienced the loo, the hot and dry wind that blows across the state during the summer months. But living with 11 other restaurant workers in a poorly ventilated one-room apartment has made him realize the perils of Mumbai’s humid conditions. “There are mornings in the summer when we wake up drenched in sweat, even when the fan is turned up to its maximum speed,” he says. “One of us had to be administered saline once due to dehydration.”

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