India, Sept. 8 -- The early morning hustle is real - especially, when you have to catch an early train from one of the busy stations in Delhi. No matter how well ahead you plan to get there, the traffic snarl right before the station has often had many scramble on foot to make sure they don't miss their train. I have been lucky so far. Never mind, if that means I make it to my reserved seat in the train barely two minutes before it departs the station!

Well, Delhi has been particularly lucky this year to be a recipient of a good monsoon spell. And hills of Uttarakhand have lapped up the rain, often flooding, but only to emerge greener and cleaner. The mood set by the flaming red buransh (or rhododendrons) that bloomed well into the summe...