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Ayurvedic texts Ancient wisdom preserved in texts of ayurveda provides interesting and useful insight into the problem. It makes a distinction between temperature and the sensation of heat — taap and daah. Taap suggests heating and daah indicates the burning sensation. If we eat and dress sensibly and in harmony with the changing cycle of season, the burning sensation can be greatly reduced if not eliminated totally and the outside temperature holds no terror. Ayurveda lays great emphasis on coping with distressing heat systemically and not wasting effort on treating the symptoms. The Unani system of medicine too follows the same philosophy and prescribes summer (or for that matter monsoon and winter) menu accordingly. Food ingredients are believed to have specific properties, guna or taseer, either heating, or cooling the system. These should dictate the recipes to beat the heat and keep our cool. In addition, restorative tonics are included. The properties of such ingredients are described as jvarhar and trishna nigraha (literally, fever-reducing and thirst retarding etc.). This is the time to indulge and relish to your heart's content the sherbets, raitas/pachadis and chutneys or soups and salads if you are partial to Firangi stuff. Soothing colours
Most recipes rely on the soothing power of colours. Chromatic emphasis shifts in summers to white and shades of green contributed by dahi, fresh coriander and mint or pale lemony yellow of karhi or bael ka sherbet. As working in the kitchen is not an attractive proposition you may like exploring the delightful world “one-dish meals” — tehari, light vegetarian pulao, wraps, bakes and grills. Home-made cold chaat, dahi bhalle, moong ki pakodi, papdi chaat, fruit chaat —all can, with little imagination, be converted into a healthy and tasty repast. Chaach and home-made sherbet of seasonal fruits can help break out of the addiction to carbonated cold drinks that never slake thirst but only aggravates it. Putting an accent on sour and astringent with just a hint of sweet n salt. Bitter, properly paired with a partner, begins to appear beautiful. Sprouts and pounded rice go a very long way to provide succour to the heat-hassled. Phirni, kulfi, shrikhand and kheer, in its myriad avatar, can tickle the sweet tooth as they nourish the body. If you can't do without “fish or fowl” don't lose heart. Dum ka chandani murg, dressed in soothing white or Darashahi qaliya or daab chhingri taste great and are extremely satisfying even when not served piping hot. Cuisine that is seasonally appropriate is more effective a climate changer and mood manipulator when combined with “matching” costume. There was a time when cotton was king and India was synonymous with gossamer-thin muslin from Dakha. Delicately embroidered chikan kurtas in white or soothing pastel shades were favoured by both men and women and worn with a loose pyjama or shalwar-garara. Pressures of modern life lived always in a rush and the difficulty of “taking care' of this kind of clothing has all but made them extinct. Though oldtimers like Lal Bihari Tandon of Lucknow have bravely held their ground and the celebrity filmmaker Muzaffar Ali has tried hard to keep alive this precious art form, the “really cool” stuff remains out of reach of most people. Fab India set the trend and continues to lead the pack in the field of ethnic attire that is seasonally appropriate and aesthetically elegant. Fab India has carved for itself a niche and has a loyal following in metros and mini metros but has not really become a rage with youngsters. It is the beloved of the arty crowd. Muzaffar had also once joined hands with Richard Holker of Indore to revive Maheshwari sarees and some kindred souls had tried to do the same at Chanderi but these efforts have made with little success. Affordable, easy to maintain and comfortable wear summer continues to shimmer in distance like a mirage. This is the reason we were delighted to notice that some ready-to-wear garment sellers like John Players have put in their stores a summer collection, cotton tee shirts, shirts, shorts and slacks inspired by traditional wisdom. These apparels both for men and women are available in soft pastel shades or
Then there is the magic realm of Indian perfumes. Khus and sandal, and the incomparable gilli/mitti which when “worn” exude a cool aroma around and seem to bring down the temperature perceptibly. Interestingly, all these aromatic substances are also used in traditional summer recipes in India.
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Keeping cool, the Indian way 
Summer
Kalidas the great Sanskrit poet in his lyric work Ritusamhar paints evocative word pictures of beautiful maidens coping with torturous summer splashing in pools reflecting rays of moon, applying sandalwood paste to their ample bosoms and touching objects like pearl that bring relief. The Barahmasa series of Rajput/Mughal/Pahari miniatures depict scenes of Nayak and Nayika pleasantly enduring the difficult summer following “traditional” advice. So why should we continue to suffer when we too can literally enjoy the grishm ritu like our forefathers did? The first thing to remember is that, as ayurveda tells us, the year is divided in two parts — one named grahan when nature takes away our energy and the second termed adaan when it gifts it back to us. Summer belongs to the first part and we must take precautions to fortify our body, mind and soul before the mercury starts shooting up dangerously. Nutritious snacks and meals should start replacing the sinfully seductive culinary riches. It's amazing that the household remedies for summer ailments seem to blend intuitively ingredients that hold promise both to prevent and cure and anticipate modern-day oral rehydration therapies for heat stroke. The emphasis is incorporating ingredients in recipes that are refrigerant, hydrant, aperitif, digestive and carminative. 
pleasantly patterned designs, are far less expensive than the ensembles bearing a designer tag and are easy to take care of. Our lost hopes are revived some day soon the bespoke kurta pyjama too will be reborn in buy-and-wear-it-off the peg and receive a new lease of life. Our additional recommendation: liberate your feet from shoes that 'bind' them, let them breath in Kolhapuri or Chamba chappals or at a pinch time floaters or sandals in time tested traditional designs like slip on mojarhis from Jodhpur! 