Unsung but well-stung heroes in-demand during Kitni Garmi hai season

 

A serviceman cleans the air-conditioner in scorching heat

The Winter capital of J&K is used to the Kitni Garmi hai season and celebrates it on the Tawi-river’s shore during Bijli gul weekdays and Light kab ayegi weekends. With a heart full of hope and a couple dozen calls to the lineman and 1912 (toll-free number), every family has at least one tradition they follow during summers. Calling the serviceman to get their air-conditioned ready for the impending heat wave. These unsung heroes are so booked during the month of April and June that by the time they arrive to their 7^th customer of the day, they are usually showered with curses while already being drenched in sweat. As I see Mr Rakesh squeezing his cloth mask till sweat dripped from it to the floor, I realise their tale is one that needs to be told.

Cleaning out wasp nests, pigeon nests and sparrow nests from air-conditioners is a routine matter for these well-stung heroes. “Har season mei tamoodi toh katti hi hai,” is how they shrug-off a bee sting. Swollen hands, or sometimes faces are indicators of good business though much more painful in the burning heat. 

Wasp-nests inside Air-conditioner

But this year was much different, even for them with the additional burden of Covid-19. With more people stuck in their homes, the demand for their service had also increased manifold. The rising temperature in Jammu didn’t help the situation either but Power Development Corporation Ltd came to their rescue. They worked towards reducing people’s AC dependency through frequent power-cuts, fluctuations and any other method deemed fit to reduce the load. The load on the shoulders of these servicemen. Their noble intentions are often mistaken as inefficiency by the people who sit in their AC cars for hours sabotaging PDCL’s anti-AC campaign, much to the burden of our heroes! Toiling with a mask on, directly under summer heat, these heroes don’t even get to enjoy the cool air of the AC, since most of them don’t have one in their homes. Talk about Business before pleasure.

The only places where these heroes seldom visit are the lands of Tez tez Pankhi jholo, found in peripheries of Jammu. The villages where ‘Neher ka Kinara’ and ‘Bargad ke ped ki chaon’ take precedence over any electrical appliance. Accustomed to the Kitni Garmi hai season, the residents have made peace with Bijli Gul days. With simple hand fans called pakhi, they exercise their arms and night are spent on mattresses on the roof. Rainfalls or hailstorms do spoil the plans, but provide the much-needed relief.

Amid these clear distinctions and hot-as-hell temperatures, for us city folks, AC servicemen are the heroes we need, but not the ones we deserve. How many of us truly offer them chilled water upon their arrival and a bottle to carry once they leave? Apart from their service charges, do we really recognise their hard work and appreciate them? While we sweat and complain about the power-cuts, their hard-work aims to make us have a sound sleep, barring the honest efforts of PDCL in strengthening our heat-bearing threshold! Let us remember these heroes, not only when the AC is giving hot air, but also when it’s freezing inside as the earth boils outside our rooms.