The Covid-19 second wave is ravaging India. Misgovernance of some state governments is leading to people’s lives being turned miserable. The general atmosphere of pain and suffering in India is serving as a reminder to Indians, still safe from the virus, to do all that they can in order to protect themselves and their loved ones. So, home remedies and immunity boosting techniques are being practised in close to every household. The importance of vaccination against Covid-19 is also being understood by crores of Indians with every passing day, as they rush to the CoWin site to register themselves for inoculation.
Amidst a general sense of fear of the pandemic, Indians are returning to their age-old practices. The most prominent of ancient practise adoption among Indians in recent times has been that of them deciding to use earthen pots to store drinking water. Especially as the summers kick in, Indians are reverting to the age-old technique of storing water in earthen pots. This will automatically strengthen the immunity of Indians, while also protecting us from the chilled water of refrigerators which we have become accustomed to.
Former president of the state chapter of the Indian Medical Association, Dr Rajeev Ranjan Prasad has said that extremely chilled water should be avoided as it irritates the throat. Speaking to TOI, he said, “The earthen pots keep the water at normal temperature.” TOI also reported that the demand for earthen pots has gone up significantly in cities, as people turn to organic ways of consuming cold water during the summers. Earthen pot makers and sellers, meanwhile, are gaining tremendously in such times, as Indians take to using clay pots. Many pot sellers even remarked that the demand this time around was greater than that witnessed last year.
Indian, by ditching the refrigerated and plastic-container stored water, are also helping pot sellers and makers tremendously during a pandemic that rages on and continues to imperil the livelihoods of lower-income households. It must be remembered that plastic containers make use of Bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is an industrial chemical used to make polycarbonate, a hard, clear plastic, which is used in many consumer products. BPA is also found in epoxy resins, which act as a protective lining on the inside of some metal-based food and beverage cans. BPA exhibits toxic, endocrine, mutagenic and carcinogenic effect in living organisms.
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Earthen pots, on the other hand, ensure that the water is replete with micronutrients. Additionally, it must be noted that the human body is acidic in nature, while clay – of which the earthen pots are made, is alkaline. Water from these alkaline pots when consumed reacts with the acidic nature of the body and helps in creating a proper pH balance. Replete with vitamins and minerals, the water consumed from earthen pots helps prevent sunstrokes during summer months.
The cooling process works through evaporative cooling. Capillary action causes water to evaporate from the mini-pores in the pot, taking the heat from the water inside, thus making the water inside cooler than the outside temperature. People are increasingly realising the benefits of drinking naturally cooled water. The advice of doctors during the Covid-19 pandemic, to not consume chilled water is certainly playing a big role in people reverting back to storing water in earthen pots. With time, Indians will realise what they have been missing out on for so long, and will ditch artificially chilled water completely for good.