Plain tales and the hills

'Things to Leave Behind' continues through the decades to come, telling various stories

In Delhi’s dry and scorching summers, poor plainsmen’s minds turn naturally to longing for the hills. You sit and calculate how long it would take, if you started right that moment, to get high enough above sea level to breathe easily (12 hours, if you catch the Kalka Mail from Sabzi Mandi tonight; 6 hours, if you fly to Guwahati and take the new highway up to Shillong). The thought that entire stretches of the country are naturally air-conditioned seems almost unbelievable, something of a miracle. 

Sadly, not all of us can pack up and leave at a moment’s notice. So