February 14, 2006

Some like it hot

I'm sitting in a poorly-ventilated, thus sort-of musty large room. There are probably a couple of hundred people here, and you can nearly cut the carbon dioxide with a knife. We are waiting for a film to start, a free screening of a classic, on the screen that towers in front of us.

What I have not realized is that this is a sponsored screening (which is why it is free), and so the first thing that appears on the screen is an ad film for a large manufacturer of ... get this, airconditioners. We are sweaty and hot and breathing stale air, and that's the prospect for the next couple of hours, and what do we see? A vapid model extolling the virtues of one model of airconditioner after another, for a good ten minutes. Not quite the way to endear us to these machines.

But I learn something, too, in between gasping for air. Many things.

These airconditioners are built with "I-TREK" technology!

These airconditioners are also built with "Red Fin" technology!

These airconditioners come with a backlit LCD remote controller that I can see even at night!


(I like this next one best).

These airconditioners come with "hot and cold option"!

Why would I want an airconditioner with a "hot option"?

3 comments:

Rahul Siddharthan said...

Dilip,

Why would I want an airconditioner with a "hot option"?

In Mumbai you probably wouldn't. In Delhi you well might. I haven't seen one in India but had one in my apartment in New York -- it was the only heating I had. (It also ran up quite a steep electricity bill...)

Anonymous said...

you use the hot option if you want to screen movies.

km said...

Dilip, let me guess...they were screening "Garam Hawa"?

Sorry, had to say it :)

Or was it actually Wilder's "Some Like It Hot"? In which case, it is not humanly possible to see Ms. Monroe do that song routine without air-conditioning in the room.