An Indian labourer prepares khus grass mats at the roadside in Amritsar for traditional desert coolers for Indian homes in the summer. AFP
An Indian labourer prepares khus grass mats at the roadside in Amritsar for traditional desert coolers for Indian homes in the summer. AFP
An Indian labourer prepares khus grass mats at the roadside in Amritsar for traditional desert coolers for Indian homes in the summer. AFP
An Indian labourer prepares khus grass mats at the roadside in Amritsar for traditional desert coolers for Indian homes in the summer. AFP

The end of an Indian summer tradition: evaporative coolers


  • English
  • Arabic

In summers past, the onset of the dry heat in north India was marked by desert coolers coming to life. Installed on stilts outside ground-floor windows, or perched precariously on ledges abutting upper-floor apartments, these coolers were distinctive contraptions — their cuboid bodies made of gray-green metal, and their fans filling the air with a loud mechanical hum.

Until the 1990s, desert coolers were the best weapon that middle-class families could wield against the summer. Air conditioners were too expensive, and they consumed too much costly electricity. Ceiling fans merely stirred the hot air.

Coolers, though, were cheap — just a couple of thousand rupees (Dh104) per unit, compared to the tens of thousands of rupees for an AC — and they guzzled very little power. With coolers, you were paying, really, only for a metal cage with an inbuilt fan. The slatted sides of the cage held mats of khus — a fragrant grass, called vetiver in English, which was employed even by Mughal kings five centuries ago for its cooling properties.

To use the desert cooler, a sixth of it is filled with water, and its khus mats drenched. The hot air outdoors cools as it passes through the mats into the cage. Then, as the water evaporates, the air within the cage cools further, and the fan blows that cool, moist air into the room.

“We started switching the coolers on in mid-April, and the next few months would be spent arguing about whose turn it was to top up the water inside,” said Aditya Arora, an accountant who grew up and lives in Delhi.

“You could really only use the cooler until June or July. After that, the monsoon set in, and the cooler’s air became too humid for comfort,” Mr Arora said. “But for those two or three months, the cooler made life bearable.”

_________

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_________

As Indian families grew wealthier over the past two decades, though, and as the prices of air conditioners dropped, the desert cooler began to disappear. That makes Muhammad Muzammil a member of a fast-dwindling tribe.

Mr Muzammil, 19, sells khus mats. His father started the business nearly two decades ago, and his customers included those who purchased new coolers and those who replaced their older, frazzled mats with fresh ones, as advised, every summer.

At the time, Mr Muzammil remembered, “my father used to sell 40,000 or 50,000 sets of mats in a single summer”. A set of mats costs between 200 and 400 rupees, depending on the size of the cooler.

Mr Muzammil buys the mats wholesale, from vendors in the suburb of Ghaziabad, where machines cut and compress the khus into compact mats.

Men transport a desert cooler on a two wheeler during a hot summer day in Ahmedabad, India. Reuters
Men transport a desert cooler on a two wheeler during a hot summer day in Ahmedabad, India. Reuters

But sales have shrunk as ACs have replaced coolers. Mr Muzammil and his father barely touch the 20,000 mark these years.

Other salesmen have it even worse. Mohammad Akram, who sells khus mats to households in Delhi’s suburb of Gurugram, manages just 2,000 to 3,000 sets a summer.

“The AC has become the norm,” Mr Akram said. “Even if families can’t afford to purchase one outright, they’ll buy it and pay in instalments.” His too is a family business. “My uncle used to do this, and I used to watch him as a kid,” he said. Now he wonders if the business will survive at all.

The khus business was always a seasonal one. Once the monsoon arrives, and through the rest of the year leading up to the following summer, Mr Muzammil works as a day labourer on construction sites.

He admits that desert coolers can be a nuisance to maintain.

_________

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“Every year you need to buy these khus mats,” he said. “Then you have to refill these coolers with water every day or two.”

Water supplies become more erratic in Delhi’s fierce summer, so there’s little to spare for the cooler.

The stagnant water within the cooler also becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

“People worry they’ll catch dengue,” Mr Muzammil said. Additionally, as peak summer temperatures have climbed over the past two decades, coolers have struggled to cope.

“Whereas with an AC, once you’ve installed it, then you don’t have to look after it anymore,” he said. The electricity bills are higher, of course, “but most people don’t seem to care about that these days”.

Desert coolers were best suited for residences, Mr Arora admits. It is difficult to imagine the large office complexes of modern Indian cities being kept cool by anything other than air conditioning.

Mr Arora’s family replaced their own desert coolers with ACs years ago, and he’s very glad for the icy breath that greets him when he comes indoors from the heat.

“But I still sometimes miss that sweet smell of khus in the summer,” he said. “It’s a nostalgia thing, I guess. It’s the smell of my childhood.”

HAJJAN
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

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The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz S 450

Price, base / as tested Dh525,000 / Dh559,000

Engine: 3.0L V6 biturbo

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Power: 369hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 500Nm at 1,800rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 8.0L / 100km

States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5

'Panga'

Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta

Rating: 3.5/5

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The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning. 
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval. 
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
 

Global Fungi Facts

• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
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PROFILE

Name: Enhance Fitness 

Year started: 2018 

Based: UAE 

Employees: 200 

Amount raised: $3m 

Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors 

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
 

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ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

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Bayern Munich 1
Kimmich (27')

Real Madrid 2
Marcelo (43'), Asensio (56')

Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

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Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE

THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

Scores:

Day 4

England 290 & 346
Sri Lanka 336 & 226-7 (target 301)

Sri Lanka require another 75 runs with three wickets remaining

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House-hunting

Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove

  1. Edinburgh, Scotland 
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  7. Highlands, Scotland 
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  9. Fife, Scotland 
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PSA DUBAI WORLD SERIES FINALS LINE-UP

Men’s: 
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)

Women's: 
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)

The specs

Engine: 3.0-litre flat-six twin-turbocharged

Transmission: eight-speed PDK automatic

Power: 445bhp

Torque: 530Nm

Price: Dh474,600

On Sale: Now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
While you're here
T20 World Cup Qualifier

October 18 – November 2

Opening fixtures

Friday, October 18

ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya

Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE

UAE squad

Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan

Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed

Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.