Saturday, January 26, 2008

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

I was given the "You Made My Day" award by bc.
I have given the "You Made My Day" award to Neva, sam, zakscloset, ash, nihal, weboj, jules, sandy, fenix, and bc. Please pass on the award to 10 people whose blog makes your day. You may receive multiple awards.

8 comments:

isa said...

Very informative post.
Thanks for the language lesson, as well.
My post of Jan 27 is on the same wavelenght as yours...

sandy said...

Thanks for the award and visiting my blog. I love coming here seing your photos..

and I always learn so much.

sandy

sandy said...

we have these in the states called "swamp coolers". If the air is dry they work well. Not so well if it is humid. They do a pretty good job for people. We have AC and sometimes where we live our weather gets up to 110 plus...We are in southern california.

s

Fénix - Bostonscapes said...

What an interesting post. I also heard of "wet" air conditioners, the ones used in the Middle East, that work with water, but those, I understand, are quiet.

43ºC is quite hot... I hope your climate is dry during the summer.

Thank you so very much for the award. I really appreciate it. :)

Neva said...

Wow, those are really big! Thanks for the award! the language lesson was very interesting!

Nihal said...

Great news if I am awarded with your YMMD award:) I did not think to make a good start with this Award for the New Year:)
THANK YOU so much for your kind expression, my dear friend. You know it is our differences make us unique, our talents that foster friendships. Certainly, strong relationships are built with thoughtful communications:)

zakscloset said...

yay!!!! thanks for the award!!! that really made my day too :^) and you certainly get my award for being a fellow pilot and giving all the educational info on your blog. the scented cooler sounds nice! it would be fun if they made many different flavours! i never knew what samsung and hyndai meant. i didn't even know that 'san' means 3 in chinese too. exactly how many languages do you speak!?!?!?

b.c. said...

I love the photo of these coolers--i really like seeing things like this, and that descriptive detail of the dried grass was evocative--great post

also, thanks for the award...