Windfall: Watermelons and handfans are much sought after to beat the heat and combat the power cuts plaguing the district. Picture by Surajit Roy

Residents prayed for heat when the mercury plunged to 4.5 degrees Celsius, a 50-year low in Malda, this January.

Their prayers have been answered. Only too well. The wrath of summer has already claimed two lives in the district and the Met office has not held out any hope of rainfall or respite.

Fifty-five-year-old Dhulu Das of Pakua village collapsed on his way to the market and 45-year-old Abdullah Sheikh died while doing household chores in the afternoon. Officially, however, there are no reports of heat-related deaths.

The mercury climbed steadily from 42.5 degrees Celsius on Wednesday to a blistering 44.5 degrees today. As the temperature soared, so did the frequency of power cuts in the district. Power board engineers in the district said a shortfall, caused by the increased consumption of electricity in houses and offices, led to the rampant power cuts.

Two schools in the district have already declared holidays. District secretary of the All Bengal Teachers’ Association Kajal Sarkar said “other schools would follow suit if the temperatures hovered above the 42-degree mark for a few more days”. Summer vacations were scheduled for next week.

Cases of diarrhoea, caused by the intense heat, were reported from Harishchandrapur, Habibpur, Bulbulchandi and Kaliachak blocks. “Oral rehydration solution packets have been sent to villages and block medical officers have been asked to arrange for other medicines before the situation worsens,” said Malda chief medical officer of health Ashok Banerjee.

People preferred to stay indoors and roads wear a deserted look after 10 am. Those who ventured out wore caps and sunglasses or carried umbrellas.

“Trade has been badly hit, with the flow of customers drying up to a trickle,” said Malda Merchant Chamber of Commerce secretary Jayanta Kundu.

For cold drinks and lassi shops, however, this is the time of plenty.

Kalu lassiwallah, who has his shop near Netaji More, said his hands were “sore from churning endless pots of lassi”. The owner of Dadabhai centre, adjacent Kalu’s shop, said he had stocked up for the heat. “I have sold at least five crates of cold drinks and Rs 2,000 worth of ice cream each day over the last one week,” he said. People are even willing to pay as much as Rs 8 for a green coconut.

“The heat in Malda peaks in late June, just before the monsoon. I don’t know how we will survive if the heat wave continues for a month,” Kundu said.