What it's like to live through India's non-stop searing heat wave

A diary from New Delhi on a recent day when the city of 19 million struggled to cope with killer temperatures

Large parts of northern and central India are bracing for more days of brutal heat, with temperatures forecast to hit 50° Celsius (122° Fahrenheit) later in the week. Hotter even than the searing 43°C heat on Thursday that scorched New Delhi, the capital city, while a teacher named Shyam Mahato struggled to keep students safe and hydrated from the school’s single tap.

“Heat is getting worse much earlier,” says Mahato, whose classroom is an exposed space underneath a bridge without air conditioning or even a fan.

No one in the city was untouched by the threat of last Thursday’s blazing temperatures. A