The Night the A/C Won

In Indian culture it is very common to have extended house guests and for them to just basically setup camp in your livingroom. Nobody seems to mind or feels inconvenienced at all- and if they do they would never show it.

I have always felt this was well beyond my comfort zone and have always slept in the back bedroom with the kids and Roy(which for most people I know would be less than ideal in itself).

With the extreme heat in Bangalore this year, Roy decided to break down and buy an A/C unit. Whole house A/C is basically unheard of here due to the building construction being of full concrete and the high energy costs. The unit he purchased is for the wall and meant to support 1 room, but in true Roy people-pleasing style he didn't want the relatives to feel slighted by it being in our room and not where they can benefit even though I am positive none of them have any A/C in their homes to date. Roy's solution was to put the unit in the hall leading to the bedrooms which also blows into the living room. 

Because of the size of the apartment, power of the unit, and volume of relatives we have here the thing hardly cools the hallway, leave alone multiple rooms. I have made due with the ceiling fan on high and a standing air cooler which requires tons of water dumped in daily and produces only slightly cooler air.

With most of the relatives gone, Roy suggested we pull our mattress out and sleep under the A/C tonight. I was hesitant for all the reasons you can image but ultimately gave in.  It's kinda like a big grade school sleepover, wall to wall people on the floor on these little mats. 

As always, I'll find a way to just make due and not think too much about laying on the floor with 10 distant relatives just to try and catch a little A/C.   

Most people are asleep now or just pretending not to be irritated by the light of my phone. I guess it's time to try and sleep- it's after 1am. Gotta admit the air feels good and somehow this isn't as awkward as it should be. Night!