AC in the Kitchen?

 Most housewives spend a good part of their lives in the kitchen 365 days of the year. No Sundays or holidays for them. Dishing up meals for the whole family three times a day.  Very often catering to different tastes of family members. It is tough. The task is made even tougher during the summer months when they have to sweat it out in small kitchens without proper ventilation. Some may a have a fan, but that doesn`t help because they are constantly moving around in the kitchen when they are cooking.  I discovered this when I found that the fan that I had installed in the kitchen when I built my home in 1982, was hardly used by my wife.

Many men who decided to extend a helping hand to their wives in the kitchen during the long lockdown periods have discovered the physical hardships that their wives have to undergo in the kitchens. For some, the admiration for their better halves has gone up. They have pledged to help their wives in the kitchen even after they return to normal times. In keeping with the `new normal` that most of us are experiencing. How else can they help?’

Having experienced the difficulties of working in a hot kitchen while helping his wife, a friend decided  to install an air conditioner in his kitchen. Now his wife cooks in the cool comforts of an air conditioned  kitchen. She is very happy.  But not all can afford ACs in the kitchen. The large majority of the housewives belonging to the middle class have to continue to suffer. They can get some relief only if other members of the family agree to pitch in and help.

My mind travelled back to the times when my mother used to slog it out in a small, make shift kitchen, in the 256sq ft room(koli)  in a chawl in Bombay  where I spent the first 26 years of my life. We did not have any of the conveniences we take for granted today. She used to cook on a coal fired sigri (stove). But she never complained because she had not experienced any other alternative until we moved to a flat with a separate well ventilated kitchen.

Times have changed. As we progress in life, our expectations also go up. We want more comforts to keep us going. The AC in the kitchen is one such facility that those who can afford must provide so that the house wife faces less physical hardship in the kitchen.

I regret that I had not  done it when Prabha was alive. Since she quit this world  8 years ago, I have been spending considerable time in the kitchen. Pursuing a hobby which is both creative and a great stress buster. But this year, because of the unusual high temperatures, even in April, it has been tough working in the sweltering condition in the kitchen 

I think it is time that I installed an air conditioner in my kitchen!