India, Oct. 15 -- In front of me, a woman pedals in a gentle S-pattern toward her husband, who is doing his damnedest to get the perfect shot. He flips his phone between portrait and landscape, squinting, as if orientation could solve the real problem: there's too much here to capture-the twin rows of coconut trees leaning in from either side, the immense blue sky, the asphalt stretching theatrically into the horizon, and, of course, his lovely wife.

This is the Parra-Madani Road in North Goa. After weeks of rain, we've been granted a rare day of sunshine. But Goan heat needles through fabric, clings to skin, and draws out sweat until everyone here (me included) wears the same glazed sheen. Children hide beneath dupattas, adults smear sw...