New Delhi, May 3 -- On 27 April, when weather-monitoring platform AQI reported that 97 of the world's hottest cities are in India, it felt like a ringing validation of the way I have been feeling since I set foot in my hometown a week ago to vote in the assembly elections.

With temperatures crossing 30 degrees Celsius, the heat and humidity in Kolkata has been unbearable this April. If you are lucky to have the option of working from home, you could avoid the worst of the heat. Even a walk after sundown can leave you drenched and exhausted. The few days I had to go out in the morning or afternoon, my mind went back to Megha Majumdar's novel, A Guardian and A Thief (2025), a powerful reimagining of the city as a near-future dystopia, unde...