Just came back from home up north. It was a quick visit, but useful all the same. Skies were grey, not a beam of direct sunlight aywhere, mud seeping through the thinning off-white (very "off") layer of snow and the temperature was around zero. no proper winter anymore, but nowhere near the awakening spring either. Admittedly everything there worked well, traffic was organised, no trash on the streets, etc. But it was just so cold, grey and bleak. And of course you could read the depth of the recession from downcast faces, even if you chose not to browse the papers.

So coming back to India was no hardship. Arrived at midnight to pleasant 24 degrees. Locals were wearing woolly hats and winter coats, but I could not help enjoying the noice, haggling, colours, lights and the glorious warmth!

I bet this view hasn't changed much during the past millenia. Allepey backwaters, Kerala

...or this for that matter. Arabian Sea, off Kerala

Veggie explosion. Russel market, Bengaluru