For some years, the people of Kerala have been calling attention to the terrible summers the state encountered. However, 2024 opened doors to a heat chamber unlike any previous years and this suffering is arguably the nadir of all. It now feels as if most of the districts are being cooked in a frying pan.

The unprecedented heat across the state has also brought in a series of concerns including heatstroke, sunburn and lethargy. Scientists are working their brains out to carefully discern the intricacies of climatic variations, while the common man is calling for God's grace to bless them with an immediate downpour.

Heatstroke have never claimed many lives in the state and such cases were always reported scant. Departing from such earlier idyllic days, Kerala saw three deaths due to sunstroke in the past few days. Ten people collapsed and died in different districts on the polling day of the state last Friday due to extreme heat and physical disabilities. Even animals have been reported to be victims of extreme heat and its physical consequences of dehydration!

The post-mortem report of the wild tusker, that was found dead in Kadassery Wayanad was shocking nevertheless. It said that the pachyderm never had water for the past ten days. Last day, the Meteorological Center issued a heatwave warning in three districts - Palakkad, Thrissur and Kollam. Palakkad, which has declared a heat wave, has warned that the temperature may rise to 42 degrees in the next few days.

Eight years ago, in 2016, Palakkad recorded 41.9 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature ever recorded in the state. The highest temperature recorded in the country so far is Phalodi in Rajasthan in 2016; 51 degrees.

This plight of brutal summer seems like a sweet revenge from nature for the years of destroying Forests, rivers, streams, lakes, trees and whatever that made the earth green. There is still a path of atonement open to us; which will be the last straw to end the perilous summer survival. Plant saplings, and keep lakes and water bodies clean. Sometimes, we won’t be alive enough to see these results bear fruit, but the generations after us will surely be placed in better surroundings than what we had to suffer.