Battling power cuts amid severe cold, Kashmiris fall back on kangris, hamams to keep warm

SRINAGAR, Dec 22 (PTI): The residents of Kashmir are going back to traditional ways of coping with the intense cold wave conditions as frequent and unscheduled power cuts have rendered modern heating gadgets useless.
Kashmir is witnessing Chilla-i-Kalan, the 40-day harshest winter period. Srinagar city witnessed the coldest night in 33 years as the minimum dipped to bone-chilling minus 8.5 degrees Celsius on Saturday. Other places in the valley also experienced extreme sub zero temperatures, which led to freezing of water supply pipes in many areas.
Over the past couple of decades, residents of urban Kashmir had done away with traditional heating arrangements — wood-based ‘hamams’, ‘bukharis’ and wicker-claypot ‘kangri’ — as electricity supply had started improving year on year.