Without the heat wave there will be no monsoon.

The monsoon rains in India are pretty predictable year on year, although El Nino effects seem to have become more exaggerated recently. There is a heat wave starting in late April, especially in the northern plains. Temperatures rise to over 40 degrees Celsius and stay at around 45. Last year it reached 48 degrees in Delhi. At this time it is very dry, and in previous years milk sweets used to be banned in summer months, as cows produced less milk due to dehydration. This heat wave is essential because hot air rises and creates low pressure over India, drawing moisture laden winds from the Arabian Sea. The monsoon reaches Kerala on 1 June, rising towards the north until it reaches Mumbai. It then swings round into the Bay of Bengal and gradually covers the whole country from the east, reaching the northwest around 15 July. Schools shut down in Delhi around the third week in May and do not open till the second week of July at which time it is starting to get cloudy and the heat is less intense although it is very muggy because of the increased humidity. This year the heat wave is reported to have killed over 1000 people already, most of them in Andhra. That is the sad reality of India. We need rains to grow food but, if it rains heavily, people will die in floods and if the winter is very cold pavement dwellers will die of the cold. It is a reality we live with everyday. It is not possible to sit at home doing nothing. People have to go out to work which exposes them to the elements. We need air conditioning in every house which needs cheap abundant electricity supplies. But, higher use of fossil fuels will add to global warming. The answer is solar energy. But the experience of Hawaii has shown that it causes problems for the grid due to its erratic nature. Instead of supplying energy to the grid solar energy could be used to run individual air conditioners in homes. Solar panels on roofs and walls, facing east and west, will keep them cool by cutting out direct sunlight. India is probably the only country still using old solid bricks while the rest of the world has moved on to hollow bricks. Hollow bricks increase insulation and cut the cost of air conditioning. To combat heat people need to drink copious amounts of water but we face serious water scarcity by 2020. Finally, everyone should be travelling in cars with air conditioning but, with narrow roads full of potholes, it will result in complete gridlock. The only answer is to bring down the population to sustainable levels. This will be opposed by all those who grow rich from poverty, such as NGOs, civil servants in charge of social programs and politicians who win elections by promising handouts. They love the poor so much that they want more of them and hate a ' suit boot ki sarkar ' which wants to create wealth. If we do not reduce population mother nature will do it for us. The earthquake in Nepal was a warning.