As the raucous neighbourhood in Farsh Road in Kannauj winds down for the day, an intoxicating scent wafts up from one of its open-air stone courtyards. Sprawled on it is a shimmering white carpet of jasmine flowers – all freshly plucked that evening.
The aromatic storm is a defiant nocturnal swansong that these dainty flowers have unleashed before they are dunked into a bulbous copper pot to have their fragrance distilled into jasmine essential oil.
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