Delhi through the seasons - Tapa dura

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.

Khushwant Slngh (1915-2014) authored over fifty books including A Train to Pakistan, a two-volume History and Religion of the Sikhs, which is still considered the most authoritative writing on the subject, innumerable collections of short stories and articles as well as translations of Urdu and Punjabi works. He was also the editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, a Times of India publication. His acerbic pen, his wit and humour, and, most of all, his ability to laugh at himself made him immensely popular. Suddhasattwa Basu is a painter, illustrator and animator. Graduate of the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta, he has worked in the Design Unit of Thomson Press and has been closely associated with Target, the children's magazine. His love and keen observation of nature and landscape also find expression in To Live in Magic, a book of nature poems and prayers for children by Ruskin Bond. His cartoon character Ghayab will be seen shortly in a television serial on Doordarshan.