Delhi winters typically are short, but they also get cold. This winter has been one of the worst in more than four decades. Temperatures have fallen to just above the freezing mark, and on Thursday rose to no more than 9.8 degrees Celsius, or 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Media reports say over 100 people have died in northern India as a result of the cold.
Temperatures like these are intolerable for people in a city like Delhi, where many people spend their days and nights on the streets in much warmer weather. (Temperatures in the summer have reached highs of 49 Celsius, or 120 Fahrenheit.) Even if they have homes, they often lack heating and insulation. Here are some photos of people in Delhi during the cold snap:
Cold, they say, helps you work up an appetite for all sorts of things…
… and for street food:
And let’s not forget peanuts. The more you have them, the more you want them…
For some people, cigarettes or bidis do the trick. (Don’t smoke, folks, it’s bad for you)
Here is a man sleeping in the middle of the constantly crowded Chandni Chowk.
Here, a woman dozes in a vegetable market in Old Delhi.
No doubt winter afternoons can make you feel sleepy.
They also encourage bundling up.
Most of my friends have been cancelling our plans lately… they can’t get out from underneath their quilts. Understandably, the ones that make them are doing good business.
