Indian car owner protects vehicle with layer of cow dung as summer temperatures exceed 45 degrees Celsius
- An image of a woman’s car being shared on social media showed her Toyota sedan completely slathered with cow dung to keep it cool in the hot weather
- Parts of India have experienced heatwave conditions in recent days, with temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius
A car owner in India has gone to extreme lengths to protect her vehicle from the punishing summer, as the mercury in the western city of Ahmedabad crosses 45 degrees Celsius.
An image of her car being shared on social media showed her Toyota sedan completely slathered with cow dung to keep it cool in the hot weather, local media reported.
“Best use of cow dung I have ever seen,” wrote Facebook user Rupesh Gauranga Das after sharing the images of the vehicle on the social media platform.
“To counter 45 degree heat temperatures and protect car from getting hot Mrs Sejal Shah has plastered her car with cow dung. Getting cool,” added Das, who said the photos were taken in Ahmedabad.
Parts of India have experienced heatwave conditions in recent days, with temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius.
In the eastern state of Odisha, where Cyclone Fani barrelled into two weeks ago, uprooted trees and left residents without electricity, leaving them struggling to cope with soaring temperatures.
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People have been advised by officials to stay indoors between 10.30am and 3pm.
The use of cow dung as insulation comes from an old practice by rural residents who used it on their walls and floors – it would keep their homes warm in winter and cooler in summer.
Cow dung cakes – poop made with hay and dried in the sun – have also been used as fuel in villages and people have been known to use it in soap and as organic manure.
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Politicians have also claimed various benefits of cow urine and other bovine-related products. Last month, Pragya Singh Thakur, who contested in the just-concluded general election on a BJP ticket, claimed that she cured her cancer with the help of cow urine.
“I was a patient of cancer and I cured myself by consuming [cow urine] and panchgavya,” said Thakur, referring to a term used to describe five major substances obtained from cows, which include milk, butter, curd, urine and dung.
But the country’s top oncologists debunked her argument, saying there are no studies to support such claims.
In Uttar Pradesh – where the ruling BJP administration has proposed to set up 1,000-capacity cow shelters in seven districts of the state – a government ayurvedic pharmacy has mooted a plan to collect, process and sell packaged bottles of cow urine as a health drink.
Patanjali, the billion-dollar consumer goods company run by yoga guru and Hindu nationalist Baba Ramdev, sells a product called Divya Godhan Ark. It is made by extracting the “goodness from cow urine”.
The firm claims the potion can cure a variety of ailments, including eczema, diabetes and cancer.
Additional reporting by Reuters
