Chapter 19
We were travelling during the height of the hot season. By morning the ice block had melted away leaving the water in the container swishing up and down with an irritating monotony until we arrived at the first station when a fresh block was carried in. This was repeated at every stop.
It was the second day of our journey that still stands out - a day of terrible heat, discomfort and sheer misery. It began with the rising sun, growing fiercer with each passing hour. On either side lay the vastness of India - a great empty, dun-coloured expanse stretching away to the distant horizon, where for some reason, memory had retained the brief vision of a solitary woman walking along a dusty path, while balancing a large earthenware jar on top of her head. There is no recollection of s
