Desert Coolers

These desert coolers are on display on a sidewalk in front of an appliance store. Summer is fast approaching and it will be pretty hot soon. These desert coolers are very noisy but they are supposed to cool the room like an air conditioner. Because they are noisy and take up space, they are placed in a balcony, or outside a window. They are also called Nagpur desert coolers because they are very common in the central Indian city of Nagpur where the temperature is usually over 40C (104F) during summers. Here as well the average maximum temperature during summer has increased to 40C - 43C , so perhaps some people prefer these desert coolers, not to mention that these are significantly cheaper compared to an air conditioner. There are other kinds of coolers which look nicer but they don't cool as much as these, although they have a pretty good air throw. On three sides of the cooler there are "curtains" or "filters" made of grass. Sometimes a kind of fragrant dried grass called khus is used which gives a nice sweet smell to the air coming out of the coolers.

In the background there is a white car called "Ambassador". It is a very popular car sold in India since 1957 and is based on the Morris Oxford Series III. Many government officials still user/prefer this car. The ex-Chief Minister of this state has what is called as "Z-plus" class security, and wherever he went there were five exactly identical white Ambassadors accompanying him. They all had the same number plates. His car was bullet and mine-proof. Today, I saw the Republic Day parade in Delhi on the TV and many of the ministers were shown getting down from cars which looked similar to the one in the picture. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy was the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.

Also in the background is a signboard which says "Ladies Tailors". This particular building has several tailor shops. Even though the city is flooded with ready made clothes shops in the recent years, there are still quite a few tailors around. Another sign is that of the Korean company Samsung, which sells appliances, TVs, cell phones and computers here. Other Korean companies which are doing very good business here are Hyundai and LG.

Language buffs may find it interesting to know that Samsung means "tristar" (sam = three, sung = star) and Hyundai means "modern" in Korean. They are phonetically similar to the Chinese words san (three), xing/shing (star) and xiandai (modern).


"How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?" -Unknown

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