If the English love their summer and wax poetic about it, in India, it is the monsoon that forms our muse. As the heavens begin to open up and shower us with their blessing, I am reminded of what the late great Bob Marley said: “Some people feel the rain. Other just get wet.”

Rain is a much loved part of our lives in India; we float paper boats with the aplomb of a Nelson in the impromptu rivulets that it forms and splash through puddles with abandon. When the rain stops and the sun peeps through, the air is clearer, the leaves are greener, the flowers are bright and shinier, and we learn to love and be thankful for God’s great creation all over again.

This creation and the need, nay, responsibility to preserve it for posterity forms a key theme in this issue of The Luxury Collection. We discuss clean and green automotive technologies such as luxury electric cars and bikes, which are gradually but surely supplanting fossil fuel based vehicles, as well as sustainability in art and fashion.

Needless to say, the season itself is dealt with in our usual fashion with tips and tricks to keep yourself looking at the top of your form through the wet monsoon days.

I, personally, am also thrilled to introduce you to the second volume of Duniya-e-Ziyafat, the culinary labour of love of my mother Badrunnisa Irfan. You can read more about it in the pages ahead and also order your copy. On that appetising note, let me leave you to browse through your favourite barometer of luxury.

Happy reading!