Delhi

Normally in Delhi, September is a month of almost equatorial fertility, and the lands seem refreshed and newly washed. | Nevertheless, the air was still sticky with damp-heat, and it was in a cloud of perspiration that we began to unpack. | As a result, dust was everywhere. The city's trees and flowers all looked as if they had been lightly sprinkled with talcum powder. | But in the year of our arrival, after a parching summer, the monsoon rains had lasted for only three weeks.