Residents beat the heat at cafes, parks

CHANDIGARH: With frequent power cuts becoming the norm these days, city residents are looking out for various ‘escape’ routes to save themselves from the unbearable heat. While some prefer to stroll in the nearby parks in the evening to beat the heat, others zero in on comfy cafeterias or are simply gorge on ice creams or guzzle on soft drinks. And when the electricity goes, people get on the phones with their relatives to find out if there is electricity at their homes and if the answer is a yes, they simply skip to their houses to cool off.Anju Bardwaj, a government employee, who lives in Sector 22 rued, “These days the night temperature has increased which has only added to people’s woes. When the electricity goes, I check with my parents if there is light in their sector and then go to their house in Sector 33.”
“A cafe in Sector 38 is my new home these days, as it’s difficult to stay home with the electricity playing hookey most of the time. There, along with sipping on cold coffee, one can also make use of wi-fi”, said Mohammad Adil, a student, who is a resident of Sector 34.
Shivani Gupta, who lives in Sector 41 said, “There are frequent power cuts in my sector and I don’t have any inverter at home, so whenever there is a power cut, I go to my friend’s house in the neighbourhood as they have an inverter. On Wednesday night too, I slept at her place as there was no light at my place till midnight.”
She added, “I go out for a walk whenever there is a power cut. As the ice cream parlors are open till late in the night, one can at least have an ice cream.” Manish Kumar, manager of a cafe in Sector 17 said, “Usually our cafe is full on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but now-a-days people come on other days as well and sit here for hours due to prolonged power cuts in the city all through the day.”
Raj Sharma, manager of a Sector 35 based cafe said, “These days the number of customers, mainly during the day time, has increased. There are many people who are staying as paging guests in the nearby sectors and as the power cut problem here is frequent these days, so they choose to spend time at the cafeterias because here they also get to use wi-fi facility, even as they indulge their taste buds.”