Churu Roasts as Temperature tops to 50-degree centigrade

Churu in Northen India tops in temperature to 50 degrees centigrade on Wednesday. Residents of a town in Rajasthan stopped going outside while authorities started hosting down the baking streets with water.

Churu- A home to more than 1,00,000 people - has been the hottest place in India in recent days, part of a summer heat wave suffocating most of the country as temperatures rise above normal even for this sweltering time of the year.

In Churu, normal life has stopped. The residents are hunkering down in their homes, avoiding their work and refrain from shopping during the day. The roads are so hot they could burn bare feet.

Men and women have altered their work schedules, eating habits and even lifestyle to cope up with the blistering heat. But nothing seems enough.

The power cuts are an added agony to the Churu people as the power cut starts from 4 am when it's already close to 35 degrees C. was told by a local resident of the community to the sources.

People go out to the market to buy Kgs of ice every day in the morning like a grocery item to put in the water tanks and air coolers

People are seen rushing to hospitals complaining of Vomiting, Diarrhoea, heat stroke and skin rashes. The entire city is on a red alert.At least 70 patients are admitted in various wards for different heat-related problems at Churu government hospital.

Churu's people have changed their eating habits quickly. Now they adapted to drink more of Chaach buttermilk, Raw onion, Curd, and Chapathi has become some kind of a universal breakfast, with much-skipping lunches altogether. "During such weather, it's better to fill oneself up with fluids," explained the medical man. "The more you consume oily stuff and carbohydrates, the greater the chances of compounding health problems".

Churu's public places by 10:30 am the streets start emptying out. The streets wear a deserted look, there are few passengers at railway stations and bus stands, and taxi wallahs are nowhere to be seen

Farmers, those mostly out in the unforgiving sun, hit their fields at 4 am. It's the same pattern followed in the neighboring cities. They don't have many options said Balaram from a neighboring village. By 7 am, it's already simmering.

It is toughest for nomadic people like Gadiya -Lohars, some of whom work as ironsmiths by the roadside. "we wear wet clothes," said Manhori as she hammered away near a furnace.

On measures taken by the district administration, they are sprinkling water all around, urging people to drink water and regularly assessing the situation at hospitals. There isn't much anyone can do when it's so hot that birds start falling off trees.