Munni Devi starts her workday at 4 a.m., when most of Banda is still asleep. The temperature is already 30 degrees Celsius (86 F). By midday, it'll climb past 48 C (118 F) — hot enough to rank this northern Indian town among the hottest places on Earth. The 70-year-old and her four sons can't afford to stop working, even as extreme heat transforms daily life into a survival challenge. "Everyone feels the heat, but because of our circumstances, we have to bear it," she says.
Banda has endured weeks of punishing temperatures this year, peaking at 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit). In May, the town recorded 48.2 Celsius (118.8 Fahrenheit), one of multiple times it registered the country's highest temperature for the day. According to climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks global weather extremes, Banda was the hottest spot on Earth seven times this year, most of them in April. Temperatures have dropped somewhat since then but remain stifling, particularly as seasonal rains increase humidity.
When Infrastructure Fails the Most Vulnerable
For workers like Devi and her family, who load and unload vegetables at Banda's market, there's no escape. They can't afford to miss a day. The heat is becoming more intense every year, Devi says, and this year has been especially bad. What makes it worse is unreliable electricity. "If there is no power, even the ceiling fans don't work. Sometimes there is no power for hours," she says. Her grandchildren get sprayed down every day with a water hose to get some relief. Some homes can't even use basic fans when the power goes out. Residents cool themselves with water, ice packs and sleep outside when they can.
As afternoon sun bakes Banda's streets, residents who can afford to stay inside do so. Some vegetable sellers and auto rickshaw drivers stay outdoors in hopes of attracting a little more business. Heat at all hours, even in the middle of the night, long stretches without electricity and a constant search for relief have shaped daily life.
Hospitals Overwhelmed as Climate Crisis Intensifies
Hotter days have brought more patients to the hospital in Banda, one of the bigger medical centers in this region. Those with heat maladies, ranging from fainting to heatstroke, tend to come in the afternoon and evening, filling the corridors and wards. Patients sit shoulder-to-shoulder on benches. Relatives fan family members with sheets of paper. Hospital staff move between beds carrying intravenous fluids.
Dr. Abhishek Pranayami, the hospital's head doctor, says the hospital sees a surge of patients every summer, "and the number of patients is increasing every year." They're treating large numbers of people suffering from dehydration, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain — illnesses that become more common as temperatures rise. Some patients recover within days. Others take longer. "Pressure is quite high on us and the staff," he says.
Seeking Relief Wherever They Can Find It
Even after sunset, Banda remains hot. At the town's railway station, families sometimes gather late into the night, hoping the open platforms and occasional breeze will be more comfortable than cramped homes that have absorbed heat all day. On one such night, dozens are sleeping in the station to avoid the heat. Several children and adults sleep on blankets spread out on the stone platform with parked train cars a few feet away. Some use bags as pillows. A pile of flip-flops sits inches from their bare feet. Another man stretches out on a bench, with his head on a backpack.
Nearby, several men and women are trying to sleep on blankets near the ticket kiosks, despite the bright lights. Dogs lie between some of the people on the ground, also trying to get relief. Laborers whose homes are too small and hot to sleep in are sleeping on blankets outside the railway station's entrance, trying their best to get some rest in the hot night. Regardless of the noise of vehicles and passengers entering and leaving the station, laborers and residents are lying on towels and sometimes right on the gravel. The relatively open, breezy roads and pavements near the railway station give them the best chance for some shut-eye. For parents with little children, the hot night is too uncomfortable for sleep, so they wait in the station, huddled around a smartphone.
Shobharam Kashyap, 70, is busy making wooden birdhouses at a workshop in his home. He says he and other volunteers have installed over 15,000 birdhouses across the town to give birds respite from an increasingly harsh environment. His brightly painted birdhouses, many of which are painted green because he says birds seem to prefer that color, have been mounted on trees and walls across Banda. He has also placed clay water bowls in and near his home to give birds a place for a dip or drink. Kashyap says he's continuing traditional practices of caring for other animals. "Our culture has long encouraged feeding birds. Women visiting temples traditionally offer rice. Neither the priest nor the deity consumes it — the birds do," he says.
Climate Expert: 'Intensity, Duration and Exposure Are All Increasing'
Abhiyant Tiwari, climate and health expert at New Delhi-based NRDC India, says, "Climate change is shifting the average. While Banda has always been known for hot summers, what is changing right now is the intensity, the duration and the number of people exposed to dangerous heat conditions." He says high nighttime temperatures are especially worrying because they prevent people from recovering physically from the day's heat.
The top government official in Banda says authorities have responded by opening cooling centers, distributing hundreds of thousands of oral rehydration kits and monitoring hospitals during heat warnings. Amit Aasery, the district magistrate of Banda, says officials are studying groundwater levels, soil moisture and vegetation loss while working to improve water supplies and public awareness. But he says there's only so much they can do. "What is happening here is a global phenomenon," he says. "It is because of climate change. We are the recipient of this."
Why This Matters:
Banda's crisis reveals how climate change doesn't affect everyone equally — it hits the working poor hardest. When temperatures soar, those who can afford air conditioning stay inside. Those who can't, like Munni Devi and her family, keep working in deadly heat because missing a day means losing income they can't spare. Unreliable electricity compounds the problem, leaving families without even basic fans during the hottest hours. High nighttime temperatures prevent physical recovery, creating a cycle of heat stress that hospitals are increasingly unable to handle. As extreme heat becomes more intense, longer-lasting, and affects more people, communities need reliable infrastructure, adequate public health capacity, and climate adaptation measures that protect the most vulnerable — not just those who can afford private solutions.