Hyderabad:
Hyderabad is hot. Literally. The northwesterly winds have turned the city into a furnace and air conditioners are selling like...well...hotcakes.
As the city faces its hottest summer in a decade, with the temperature crossing 44 degrees, the sale of air conditioners has shot up by 40 per cent.
"Compared to last year, there's a growth of 35-40 per cent in air conditioner sales,'' says Vishveshwar, Deputy Manager, Sales and Operations, TMC.
Sales are likely to continue being good with no reprieve expected from the heat wave till the end of this week. The last time the mercury crossed 44 degrees was in May 1999.
In the cool confines of a showroom, a customer, Dhanraj, confides that he has to rush an air conditioner home. "This year it is extremely hot as compared to the previous years. So I have come to purchase an air conditioner. It has been horrible,'' he says.
And for those who do not have the option of picking up a cooling machine to take home, there is the ubiquitous cold drink on the side of the road. And a fervent prayer to the weather Gods.