How people keep their cool during summer in Churu, India's hottest place

Advisories ask people to stay indoors between noon and 3 pm, and warn against making beasts of burden toil in these hours

The unforgiving sun has set on Churu on the day the mercury rose to 50.3 degrees Celsius. After a brief exposure outdoors contributed to an aching head, staying put in the air-conditioned hotel room and going to bed early appears to be a wise option. But an acquaintance, a native of India’s hottest place, shows up and invites me to his cousin’s wedding.

Soon I find myself at a colony next to the railway tracks, and realise that it’s business as usual in this small city of Rajasthan — the mind-numbing heat notwithstanding.

Friends and colleagues of the groom, who