Amid India’s hot summer, Dawoodi Bohra volunteers served cool refreshments to beat the heat across the nation

By 11 in the morning, the temperature outside Nandurbar had crossed 43°C. 

For three hours, volunteers had already been at work — hauling ice, mixing sharbat in large steel pots, and cooling nimbu pani to just 4°C before loading it onto carts. When they reached the city circle, every glass they handed out was nearly 39 degrees cooler than the air people were breathing.

Within the hour, the containers were empty.

Across India, similar scenes unfolded through 45 cities and 10 states over the past two months. Between April and May 2026, volunteers from the Dawoodi Bohra community launched the ‘Beat the Heat’ campaign, distributing chilled refreshments to daily-wage workers, truck drivers, market vendors, bus commuters, and people in the gig economy who get exposed to increasingly high temperatures.

"People come to us with ease and happiness — they know we are here, and they know why we are here."

-Mohammed Jhabuawala, Dahod. 

Heat pattern in India this summer

This year’s summer arrived early and intensely. Temperatures crossed 44°C across several regions before peak summer had fully begun. On one April day alone, India accounted for 19 of the world’s 20 hottest cities. The country had already recorded 331 extreme weather days in 2025 — up from 295 in 2024 and 292 in 2022.

For those in offices, extreme heat may mean inconvenience. For those outside, it is a hazard. Delivery riders navigating afternoon traffic, construction workers standing on exposed sites,  vendors spending entire days  on open pavements, and bus and truck drivers inside metal cabins, it can mean exhaustion, dehydration, and serious physical risk.

For four years, the Dawoodi Bohra community's Beat the Heat campaign has reached people most exposed to India's rising summer temperatures. In 2026, the initiative achieved its largest scale yet. Volunteer participation increased from 225 to 1,388, outreach expanded from 13 cities to more than 45 locations across 10 states and 1 Union Territory, and over 3 lakh servings of cooling refreshments were distributed, marking a 10x increase from the previous year's 30,000 servings.

The initiative was carried out under Project Rise, a Dawoodi Bohra community initiative, which provided the organisational framework through which local chapters in each city mobilised volunteers, sourced supplies, and planned distribution routes. 

The campaign at a glance

The people who showed up

The initiative’s impact went beyond the number of drinks distributed; it depended on where volunteers chose to go. Alongside setting up distribution points, they carried trays directly to people working outdoors to make the service more accessible. 

In Visakhapatnam, volunteers stood at traffic junctions and passed drinks through open bus windows to commuters and drivers waiting at red lights. Across markets in Maharashtra, they moved between vendor stalls, reaching spice sellers, flower traders, and labourers who had spent the morning seated on the ground in direct heat. 

In Dahi, a small town in Madhya Pradesh where temperatures hit 43°C and wedding season crowds filled the streets, volunteers went to workers at vegetable carts and bus stops, anticipating need rather than waiting for people to approach them.

The scale of the outreach

In Galiakot, a small town in Rajasthan, volunteers expanded their service beyond their city limits, travelling nearly 30 kilometers to Anandpuri village and serving close to 3,500 beneficiaries there. 

“One bullock cart driver stopped for a drink after spending hours in the heat. The moment he finished the glass, the relief on his face was visible. Seeing that expression made us feel that our effort had been worthwhile.”

— Aliasgar Pidulla, volunteer, Galiakot

For Aliasgar, the journey was not only about distance. He saw the initiative’s value in serving someone beyond one’s immediate circle — a stranger at a roadside stall, or a driver passing through town.

Huzaifa Cyclewala, a volunteer from Dahod, described what shaped his own decision to participate. 

“During Ramadan, His Holiness encouraged community members to reach out to all sections of society and serve them with sincerity and commitment. That message stayed with me.”

— Huzaifa Cyclewala, volunteer, Dahod 

Gujarat led all states with 63,000 servings, driven by strong dedicated volunteers in Surat, Vadodara, and Dahod. Madhya Pradesh came next with 48,100 across Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, and a string of smaller towns. Maharashtra contributed 44,073, with Mumbai and Pune among the top contributors. Beyond these, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, and Kerala all had active distributions — bringing the initiative's reach to 10 states in total. 

What a glass of Nimbu Pani means

In recent years, governments across India have expanded heat action plans and early-warning systems to respond to rising temperatures. Alongside these efforts, grassroots initiatives like Beat the Heat have focused on reaching people who spend long hours outdoors and face the most direct exposure to extreme heat.

The volunteers were not distributing emergency aid packages or large-scale relief supplies. Instead, they offered something immediate and practical: a chilled drink at the right moment. In 44°C heat, even such small gestures bring visible relief.

As the summer draws to an end, the sweltering conditions are still expected for some time. In answer, Dawoodi Bohra volunteers continue serving their local communities and are more motivated than ever to contribute.