Heated/Warmed : Finding My Cool with Prakriti's Natural Cooling System

Musings of Vaani Anadya Saikia a Grade 11 learner on the school's eco-friendly cooling system

Prakriti has always found an innovative solution to every problem,

whether it be an inconvenience to the learners or a global crisis. Prakriti is extremely environmentally conscious, with many recognitions to show for it, and one of the most noticeable compromises the school has made is on air conditioning. The heat and the climate change’s gift of humidity to Delhi causes every tragedy there can be but the school won’t have central air conditioning.

As a replacement, they installed a cooling system along the whole school- a huge investment and an even bigger contraption 😊 . 

You can probably imagine the state of the people during peak humidity in summer, all the students melting on top of cool metal rails and teachers drenched through and through their eco-friendly khakis.

I have noticed that no one ever complains, not the way I used to at least.

I remember when I first joined I was extremely difficult about many things-

I fussed about going to sports, I fussed about the heat, I fussed about anything that I could fuss about. I don’t imagine I was too pleasant to be around during this time, but its not like the weather was any pleasant either. 

I joined the school in August 2022 so I missed a lot of the major heat but the following year I was a mess- I even bought an electronic hand fan to help cool me down (temperamentally and physically). I would run around the school looking for Rahul Bhaiya hoping he would magically change the weather and conjure up some snow or cool wind but unfortunately he never, and still hasn’t, practiced magic in front of me. 

So the heat became a personal issue for me and I assumed that everyone else around me shared my suffering as well.

I began to loathe the chunky metal vents sticking over our heads, convincing myself that they expelled heated air and were plotting my demise. Surprisingly so, that was not the case. 

As my IGCSE exams wrapped up, the new sessions started and the stress I had gotten so used to, left my body, I stopped noticing the heat as much.

It wasn’t getting cooler, it was getting hotter by the day. the vents were still an eye-sore but suddenly the air was like a cool chilly blow and the fans spun quicker. For about two months I was too distracted laughing and gabbing and not struggling to finish the syllabus to realize that the heat was consuming me and in a way it had stopped consuming me. I understood why the other kids never complained and why Rahul Bhaiya smiled through his drenched kurtis. Everyone was having such a great time that no one noticed the little things that would irritate an unhappy person. 

The school’s ugly cooling system is worth it when you sit and observe the way no one would rather be any where else, no matter how air conditioned or fancy a place may be- if the people aren’t happy, you’ll be irritated all the same.