JAIPUR, June 4: Deserted roads with only an occasional vehicle passing by, dark window glasses all rolled-up, a few two-wheelers, faces of the riders totally wrapped in cloth. It is the sight of a city under siege.A 20-day spell of heat wave hit Rajasthan last month, throwing life out of gear and killing over 200 in different parts of the state. Among them was a 50-year-old policeman. Several deaths were reported from railway stations where many of the homeless take shelter.Daily wagers like rickshaw pullers and vendors were doubly hit. While the heat sapped their energy, forcing them to rest after even a short trip, they got few customers as only those with urgent work bothered to come out. Most people preferred to stay indoors. In offices, employees were observing proper timings for once, coming in the morning before the heat became unbearable and leaving after it cooled down.Citizens staying indoors had their own set of problems. People staying on top floor of flats were the worst hit. Mostresidents do not have air conditioners and use of air coolers was limited by availability of water. An air cooler filled to capacity with about three bucketsfull of water ran dry within two to three hours. ``Running the cooler all through the day is thus out of question,'' said Niru, a housewife.Blasts of hot air from sizzling hot roads seemed to burn the skin if one was forced to undertake a journey. One had to evolve a drill to ensure survival on such occasions : carry at least two water bottles; change water every two hours as it became hot like tea in this duration; even if you cannot find a place to change it, keep sipping the water with you every 15-20 minutes to avoid dehydration.Tar on the roads melted under the unrelenting heat. Freshly laid lanes of the Delhi-Jaipur highway resembled bullock cart tracks as the wheels of heavier vehicles dug a lane into the softened surface.The of course there are the myriad interpretations of the unusual heat from residents used to enjoying pleasantsummers.When Governor Darbara Singh, who went to Pokhran at the time of Prime Minister's visit to the nuclear test site, suffered a heart attack, some said it was induced by heat in the desert.One interesting theory linked the weather with the nuclear tests. The onset of the heatwave on May 13, two days after the initial explosions, provided ground for the wild conjecture.Director, Meteorological Centre, Shiv Shankar Singh, waved aside such notions as nonsense, saying ``The explosions were underground and matter no more than mere cracker bursts at best in the global atmosphere.''He also dismissed the common impression of an uncommon heatwave. ``This is a perfectly normal summer with a perfectly normal air pattern, there being no westerly disturbances to interfere with it,'' he said.The maximum temperature recorded in the state this year was 49.8 degrees celsius in Dholpur. In Jaipur, however, it was after 18 years that the mercury rose to 46.6 degrees celsius. Singh refuted reports oftemperatures reaching or crossing 50 degrees anywhere in the state. ``None of our observatories recorded such temperatures. They must have got the information from some private individual and cannot be held as accurate or totally dependable,'' he said.Max heat registered in RajasthanAlwar - 50.6 (1956)Dholpur - 50 (1995)Sri Ganganagar - 50 (1934)Churu - 49.8 (1993)Bikaner - 49.4 (1914)Jaisalmer - 49.2 (1991)Jaipur - 47.7 (1932)Jodhpur - 48.9 (1932)
