Author’s note: I think the context of the post is very Indian because it directly relates to the weather and culture here.
Lately, I have been down on posts so much, I wonder if I have the right to own a WP account. My entire family has been ill (me included)–viral fever relapsing every week. My daughter had been on anti-biotics until day before yesterday.
We were worried that it was something sinister and got tested but nothing!
And then, my daughter’s doctor diagnosed the real cause–Air Conditioning (AC) at school! In India during changing weather of September, the difference between day and night temperature can be 16-17 degrees but this change is gradual and happens over the course of day. Then, imagine walking to school at 30C only to sit in a classroom at 16-20C and then walking out again in the afternoon at 35C. Add to that even one infected child in the room–one sneeze and Boom!
So, as soon as my daughter had announced in May that her school was installing AC in all classrooms, my first reaction was “Why?” And now it is “Damn!” (Sorry about swearing but…)
I don’t understand the whole point of having AC in school.
My whole generation had one or two fans among the 50+ classmates and we fared just fine. Infact, it made us more active outdoors since the outside temperature didn’t turn us to ashes. I remember painting one of my school walls during summer afternoon (without sunscreen) for the annual sports event. It was Fun! I also remember cycling and walking back from a couple of my schools in the afternoon sun. It never bothered me. I just needed a handkerchief to wipe off the sweat and a water-bottle with unfiltered school water and a good deal of street-food to deal with the day.
And now, children are travelling with RO water-bottles in AC buses to AC schools and returning to AC homes, jumping directly to mobile phones gaming, cartoons or Netflix! No climbing trees, no building makeshift swings, no stealing mulberries and black plums from neighbours’ gardens, no crazy cycling, no snooping on bird nests, no digging out colourful stones in the garden, no splashing around in water while watering plants, no walking on the low walls to imitate tight-rope walkers, no playing in the rain, no building tombs for dead butterflies…
Sigh! I wonder what kind of world we are building for our children.
Short Stories | Fish-eye Perspective 