Day II in Bhubaneswar - India trip 2021

 It started as balmy and muggy, though it felt trifle better as the day progressed because of the cool morning breeze. But the accompanied relief was short lived. The wall mounted AC in my room went poof when I was eying upon a piece of eye catching news on the front page of local daily SAMBADA (The News) - "MAHILA BANK KARMACHARI KA GHARE PASI ULAGNA JUBAKA KA UNMUKTA KANDA" (A man went wild after entering naked inside the home of a female Bank Employee). Always a sucker to all kinds of sensational news I was devouring every bit of the it when all of a sudden I could smell something burning and saw white fume wafting from the wall mounted AC. I immediately switched it off. A Mechanic was promptly called.

During the World War II, at the time of relentless Nazi bombing on England, the British Royal Air Force fought bravely against the airstrikes. The German attack was rebuffed, with Luftwaffe incurring major losses without any tangible gains on the ground. The insurmountable reverses by Germany in the famous Battle of Britain between the Summers of 1940 and 1941 forced Hitler to halt Blitzkrieg on Britain and divert his attention to Russia. 

Winston Churchill, then British Prime Minister paid this tribute to RAF (Royal Air Force) - "Never in History of mankind so much was owed by so many to so few". Similarly my tribute to Willis Carrier, an Engineer from New York who invented Air Conditioning - "Never in the History of mankind so much was owed by so many to just one person, the inventor of AC". 

I could feel its absence as my room  started to warm up. By noon the ceiling fan was circulating hot air inside. I tried to get little creative and put a table fan beside me. It helped a bit as the blowing air dried the perspiration and made me feel better yet vindicating the good ole Law of Physics - evaporation causes cooling. Plus the force of air turbulence created by the mini tornado from the clash of air fronts from both the ceiling and table fans kept the mosquitos away.

The relief wasn't far away, not in the form of AC Mechanic, but dark clouds which suddenly churned in from the North Eastern sky, announcing their arrival with silver streaks of lightning and booms of thunder, followed by a heavy downpour. It brought the temperature down, may not by whole lot, but to a manageable level. I adjusted myself to my fait accompli with the Air Conditioning unit until the arrival of the Mechanic. Can't recollect when was the last time I spend an entire day in Summer without AC.

Talking of female Bank Employee and AC - I went to the local "Old Town" branch of the State Bank of India desperate for some cash to supplement the meager Rs.250 lying in my pocket. The few credit cards I got are useless at most places of merchandise as cash transactions still rule the roost in spite of rise in cashless payments. 

Visiting the branch in our neighborhood after 3 years I noticed the entire building is now centrally Air Conditioned. The banking process has been streamlined for better. No more hopping around counters to withdraw money. When we see a person after a few years we can judge the change in appearance in that person better than some one who sees that person every day. Similarly this welcome change was noticeable by someone who is visiting after years.

It took me only a few minutes to encash my check. The young lady cashier at the counter didn't even bother to look up as she looked at my check, clicking away the computer keys with her eyes going back and forth between my check and the screen. Still looking at the screen she pushed the check back to me - "PACHHARE SIGN KATANTU (Please sign on the back) which I duly obliged.

She then put a bunch of Rs.500 bills (notes) on a counting machine. It whirred for few seconds before displaying the amount on screen. Then she bundled those bills in a rubber band and handed over to me. "Thank you, young lady. Have a nice day" - was my response to her service. Now she looked up and made an eye contact, suggesting me to count the money before leaving. The other guys ahead of me in the line weren't so lucky as she didn't mention them the same.

The evening thunderstorm cooled down the environment a bit. I ventured outside to run some errands. The fresh rain filled the potholes turning them to muddy cesspools, the vehicles craftily skirting ahead in their bumpy ride. The city was conspicuously less vibrant compared to my last visit 3 years ago. Covid has taken a heavy toll on the phyche of the city-gens, a la a Rasagolla whose syrup has been sucked out of it. The mojo was simply missing. 

The traffic was fewer, less chaotic, the vehicles in parking lots were pleasantly in order as not many were plying around. Only ones who seemed happy were the stray dogs, cows and bulls as they had lesser number of humans to deal with. You can still see a lot of bullshit on road. The city is limping back to normal, though a long road ahead towards a full recovery. Covid does have its share of benefits in disguise. More later...