It is a little after ten o’clock at night. I have just gotten back from a lovely Rosh Hashana dinner hosted by the woman who runs the UN Development Program in Delhi.
I come back, and my roommate – who stays up until all hours and usually makes fun of me for being an invalid – is fast asleep.
I go up to the roof, to enjoy a few minutes of solitude and mental wind-down. And come to think of it, Delhi is dead silent tonight. One would think it were the dead of night on a desserted island, and not late evening in an enormous city.
There is a fantastical ring of red around the night sky, as if the sun hasn’t fully set yet and has no intention of doing so. Sunset was scheduled for over four hours ago, and the deepest shades of night sky are a surreal purple, rather than black. The pink tint is vibrant, and completely unexpected.
Tonight feels like magic. Also, like I have stumbled through a six-hour timewarp upon entering my house, and that it is closer to sunrise than it is to sunset.
In any case, I embrace the invitation to turn in early and cash in on some precious, much needed sleep of my own.
