But in the year of our arrival, after a parching summer, the rains had lasted for only three weeks.
Normally in Delhi, September is a month of almost equatorial fertility, and the land seems 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, and the city's trees and flowers all looked as if they had been lightly sprinkled with talcum powder.