Every summer evening, Gulshan follows the same routine. She washes the floor of her one-room home several times to cool it down a bit so her four children can sleep on it. Last summer, the family saved up enough to buy a desert cooler, which uses evaporation as a cheaper option than air conditioning.
The family uses the appliance carefully to keep energy costs down. But even when it’s on, Gulshan, who doesn’t use a surname, has to dampen everyone’s clothes before they sleep. The 39-year-old and her children now have rashes, and one of them has a skin infection from the wet cloth against their skin.
View image in fullscreen
Gulshan writes in her heat diary. Photograph: Suchitra
This summer, Gulshan started jotting down these coping strategies in a garmi khata, or heat registry. “I feel relieved that at least somebody might read my family’s experiences,” she says.
They are one of 40 households in Sunder Nagri, a slum in north-east Delhi, documenting their experiences of surviving the city’s increasingly longer and more frequent heatwaves.
Over the last few years, cities across India have begun drawing up heat action plans – agreements made by a municipality or district administration on how to prepare for and respond to extreme heat.
While some include data like satellite-derived land surface temperatures to identify heat hotspots, there are still big gaps in information about people, making it hard to understand how heat is experienced differently across communities.
Aravind Unni, an urban planner and researcher in Delhi, says: “Experiences of heat are vastly different depending on geography, income, occupation, gender, caste, class.
“While we have some meteorological data on heat, what’s absolutely missing is people, community – what they feel, what they experience.”
View image in fullscreen
A thermal image of Sunder Nagri’s main market area, showing a ground temperature of 54.1C (129.4F). Photograph: Sabique Ahmed/Greenpeace
Most data collected in heat planning is usually just meteorological, such as air temperatures and heatwave thresholds. The idea for the heat diaries was to “move beyond just the numbers,” says Nibedita Saha, a Greenpeace India researcher who worked on the project.
Aakiz Farooq, a senior campaigner at the group, says the team thought about how best to capture experiences and wondered: “What if they become their own storytellers, they write their own evidence, they write their own testimonies?”
View image in fullscreen
Arshi works and studies in her one-room home, which she shares with five relatives. Photograph: Suchitra
Arshi, 19, who lives in one room with five other family members, is a distance-learning student at Delhi University. She also works at home making decorative tassels for trucks.
She makes about 150 rupees (£1.17) working with her mother and sister for a day. “Sometimes I go to the college library just to sit in the air-conditioned space for a while. But I have to come back home so I can help my sister and mother,” she says. These experiences are part of Arshi’s diary.
The diaries, which ask about daily routines, work, home, mood, and families, are meant to serve as detailed journals of residents’ daily lives.
Arshi’s small brick house is extremely humid, and while temperatures are lower after rain, the mix of heat and humidity means everyone is sweating heavily.
The air temperature inside is 29.3C (85F), but with relative humidity at 84.6%, the “feels-like” temperature is 36.3C (97F).
View image in fullscreen
Residents found some alleyways in Sunder Nagri recorded extreme surface temperatures. Photograph: Suchitra
Raja, a 21-year-old street vendor, experiences temperatures as high as 45C during peak summer months as he sells vegetables from his pushcart. The fresh produce spoils quickly, leading to losses, and he has noticed a drastic drop in the number of people on the street, which also reduces his income.
Sign up for This Is India: our free weekly newsletter on life in the subcontinent
Read more
Every night, he returns to aHome with poor airflow and no cooling other than a ceiling fan. As the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures keeps shrinking year after year in Delhi, people in homes like Raja’s get no relief, even after dark. “I started sleeping on the roof in May just to catch some breeze,” he says.
View image in fullscreen
A thermal image of a street vendor and his cart in Sunder Nagri, showing a ground temperature of 52.8C (127F). Photograph: Sabique Ahmed/Greenpeace
Workers like Raja, says Unni, could get better protection through public policy if the government understood their experiences at a local level and set up systems to offer compensation.
When residents of Sunder Nagri began mapping heat levels in their own neighborhood, they discovered that some streets—including the one where Raja sells vegetables—had ground temperatures above 54C (129F). The residents are now looking for practical fixes, like adding shade, water points, or more greenery.
This summer, satellite data showed major differences across Delhi. For example, an analysis by the news magazine India Today found an average land-surface temperature of nearly 44C in Mahipalpur, a south-west district near the airport, compared to about 37C just 2 miles (3km) away in the leafy, upscale suburb of Vasant Kunj.
View image in fullscreen
As extreme heat becomes a regular part of life in Delhi, the government has added heatwaves to a national list of disasters. Photograph: Rajat Gupta/EPA
Unni believes the diaries and community heat mapping could help shape urban resilience policy, but he points out a major hurdle: “Indian cities don’t have the administrative capacity or infrastructure to take action at a local level.”
The diaries have now been sent to India’s National Human Rights Commission, with a request to recognize extreme heat as a human rights issue and suggest steps to protect people.
Farooq says the team also plans to share the testimonies with ministries, policymakers, and MPs to push for more targeted measures against extreme heat.
View image in fullscreen
People crowd into the shade of a tree while waiting for a bus in Delhi. Photograph: Rajat Gupta/EPA
He adds that they are working to turn the testimonies into evidence of impacts and injuries that could support lawsuits for greater accountability, especially after the supreme court’s 2024 ruling that protection from the worst effects of the climate crisis is part of the right to life.
On 4 August, India’s government added heatwaves to the list of nationally recognized disasters, allowing states to access emergency relief funds.
Unni and Farooq say it “would be ideal” if that decision meant funds could support local efforts guided by community input.
Arshi also feels more optimistic after the new guidelines. “Even if the government notices something as small as our rising medical and electricity bills and tries to help with that, it would feel like a win for me. At least they would have seen what we’re going through,” she says.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the topic written in a natural human tone with clear and direct answers
General Background Questions
Q What is this article actually about
A Its a firsthand look at how people living in the slums of Delhi survive when temperatures hit a scorching 54C It shares their daily struggles coping methods and the harsh reality of living through extreme heat without modern comforts like air conditioning
Q Why are the slums hotter than the rest of the city
A Slums often lack green spaces and trees and are built with materials like tin plastic and concrete that absorb and trap heat They also have poor ventilation and are often located near industrial areas or highways which adds to the heat island effect
Q Is 54C a normal temperature for Delhi
A No its a recordbreaking extreme While Delhi summers are always hot 54C is an unprecedented and dangerous spike likely made worse by climate change
Q Who are the people most affected
A The most affected are daily wage laborers rickshaw pullers street vendors construction workers and women who have to cook and work inside tinroofed homes They have no choice but to work or stay in the heat to survive
Daily Life Practical Struggles
Q How do people in the slums sleep at night in that heat
A Many sleep on rooftops on the ground outside or wet the floor with water and sleep on it They use hand fans wet cloths and pour water on themselves just to get a few hours of restless sleep
Q How do they keep their homes cool
A They use khus screens soaked in water hang wet jute sacks over windows and doors and cover the tin roofs with old clothes or hay But these are temporary fixes that only last a few hours
Q What do they do for water
A They rely on government water tankers shared taps or borewells In extreme heat water gets scarce and they have to walk long distances to fetch it They prioritize drinking and cooking over bathing
