New Delhi. In many states of the country, people are eagerly waiting for when the fire will stop raining from the sky. Leave aside cities like Delhi, Patna, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, in cities like Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bhagalpur, Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Bhopal, the temperature has crossed or reached 50 degrees Celsius. The situation in villages is also more or less the same. In such a situation, News 18 Hindi tried to understand and know about the heat of the last 150 years on the basis of conversation and experience of two elderly persons of 92 years and 93 years with their parents. Let us know whether it was this hot 150 years ago or is it more hot today?
93-year-old Ramjivan Singh, a resident of Begusarai district of Bihar, is known as a big socialist leader. Anyone who has a little understanding of Bihar politics cannot remain unimpressed by Ramjivan Singh’s personality. Ramjivan Singh, while sharing his experience about heat, says, ‘Look, according to my own experience, I am seeing that the ratio of cold is decreasing and the heat is increasing a bit. Earlier, there used to be four months of rain, four months of heat and four months of cold. But, now it is not so. Earlier, there used to be so much rain that the pit next to my house used to remain filled with water for months and we used to catch fish. That pit is still the same, but I am seeing that for the last 10-15 years, this pit remains dry. It rains, but not so much that water remains in this pit for months. Now the rain has decreased and the heat has increased.’
93 year old socialist leader narrated his experience
Ramjivan Singh further says, ‘Look, if you mess with nature, then nature will mess with you. If you have read the Uttara Kand of Ramayana, it is clearly written in it that a day will come when rivers will dry up, water will disappear from waterfalls… Look, now even the stars have changed their position in the sky. In our time, school used to start in the morning and used to get over at 11.30 am. When I was a child, as soon as I came back from school, I used to throw my bag and spread a towel on the ground and sleep. Mother used to say, let’s eat… I used to say, mother, take some rest… It was hot earlier too… it is not that there was no heat… sometimes I feel that now it is not that hot. The reason for this can be anything… where was electricity earlier? Where was AC?’
See, ‘I come from a farmer’s family. My father was an old man and they knew everything about the weather beforehand. When it would rain, when the weather would clear, they used to work accordingly. Earlier too it used to be this hot, but now it seems it is getting a bit more. Earlier people used to sweat profusely. We used to drink cold water from the well. Which vegetable to eat in which month. When to eat curd, when to drink kheer… my mother and father taught me this. My father died at the age of 82, but my mother lived till 102 years. According to me, it used to be hot before too, but now it has started getting a bit more.’
What is the similarity between the summer 150 years ago and the summer now?
In a conversation with AnyTV Hindi, 92-year-old Gulab Jha, a resident of Meghaul village in Begusarai, said, ‘Bauaa, it is hot all the time… Earlier, we could not feel the heat, but now we can feel it. It has been very hot for the last few days. 100-150 years also, it used to be hot in the same way. Yes, but the rains that used to happen earlier, do not happen now. It used to rain a month in advance. When the east wind used to blow, we used to understand that it is going to rain. Similarly, it used to be so cold that the corn would not yield grains. Snakes would start coming out.’
Also read: How much more will the temperature go up? When will AC, cooler and fan stop working? Know from the experts
92 year old Gulab Jha’s experience with heat
Gulab Jha further says, ‘See, we did not sleep inside the house in childhood. We insisted on sleeping outside. Mother used to sleep outside in the courtyard and we used to sleep with father and uncle on the stool or on the stone under the verandah. We used to spread a sack. There were no mosquitoes earlier. We do not know if we would have killed any mosquito in childhood. Even earlier people used to be drenched in sweat. We had a lot of problem in getting food. We used to survive by eating aluha suthani, barley, sama and sattu. In summer we used to drink a lot of Ghor. Mother used to make Ghor by cutting the peel. We used to bring it from somewhere and she used to give it to us by taking it out of the pot. Bauaa…it is very hot, when the time comes then the heat shows its true form.’
Growing in the country temperature In view of this, many states have ordered the closure of schools and colleges, while working people are also planning to take leave and go to hill stations. It seems as if the situation of Corona three years ago is going to come again in the country.
Tags: Delhi Weather Update, environment ministry, environment news, Heat Wave
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 30, 2024, 22:39 IST