Delhi through the seasons

This is the diary of a nature lover, patterned like the traditional Baramasi of Indian poets. It speaks of trees, flowers, fruits, birds, snakes, insects and animals that populate Delhi and its surroundings through the twelve months of the year. It is a book of wonder, noting the beauty of the many fairs and festivals celebrated in the country; telling the story of clouds, of what their shapes and movements mean; investigating why hailstorms come in spring and early summer and not in winter; writing about how birds communicate with each other and why their calls vary with the seasons. Woven into the text are poems by Kalidasa, Guru Nanak, Meer Taqi Meer, Mirza Ghalib, Akbar AIlahabadi, Rabindranath Tagore, Rudyard Kipling and many others. Delhi through the Seasons is Khushwant Singh’s collaboration with Suddhasattwa Basu, one of India’s finest painters of natural phenomena. A rare treasure.