As the summer heat intensifies, access to cooling becomes a marker of economic privilege in the world’s most populous nation It was the summer of 2024 when Annu Tiwari, 35, fell sick after fainting one day at her home in Bahraich, a district in northern India. Being alone at home, she couldn’t be taken to the hospital immediately. When she fainted again two days later, she was rushed to a local quack who claimed Annu was sick because “the heat entered her brain.” Unconvinced, Annu’s husband, a