Paris diary: 40 ACs for Indians

Who would have thought that Paris — 15 days of snow in the year, quite cold in the winter — would be so insufferable in July? Well, someone doing the planning for Indian sportspersons for the Olympics should have known that! Why, infrequent visitors from India knew it. Making bookings on Airbnb, one found that the apartments with ACs installed in them were few and far between and not easy to find. When it rains, Paris is tolerable — it’s the sun which turns the city, and its trains and trams and buses, into cauldrons. Friday’s high was around 30°C, but the humidity made it quite oppressive. The Indian athletes have been braving the heat in their Olympic Games Village rooms, cooled only by a fan. PV Sindhu said the fan in her room was enough for her, but indicated the others may not be equally phlegmatic. The Indian Sports Ministry has, finally, sent 40 portable air conditioners to our athletes, the decision made after a meeting between the Sports Ministry, Sports Authority of India, IOA and the Indian Embassy in France. Following this, it was decided that the Indian Embassy would procure the AC, the bill picked up by the Sports Ministry. The organisers, wishing to reduce the carbon footprint of the Games, had decided to make as little use of air conditioning as possible and the US contingent, not keen to rough it out, brought their own portable ACs. — TNS