TWO MONTHS after moving to New Delhi, I realize how quickly the honeymoon has ended. The weather has turned warm with winter ending and spring quickly descending, and the city's temperament has also turned on the heat. The beastly traffic situation has worsened, and air pollution has doubled up. I've been going back and forth to the doctor for a throat infection that's been lingering, due invariably to the air that I breathe indoors and outdoors.
As a place to live, Delhi, with all its contradictions and emotional chaos, is both loved and hated by non-Delhiites. It hosts India's largest number of foreign residents, but lots of them leave it all too soon, mostly with negative experiences. I'm realizing, however, that Delhi will never change for anyone. It's got to be embraced, smelled, tasted, and heard to the very core, throat infections and all. Only then will one have a thriving relationship with this sensational city.
