It was questions about India’s scent tradition that led writer and historian William Dalrymple to collaborate with Monika Ghurde on a long-form piece for an international news magazine, which will be out in print next month. Dalrymple, who first met Monika and her now estranged husband, Bharath Ramamrutham, in Goa five years ago, says the 39-year-old perfumer knew a “phenomenal lot about scents”.