Insects, worship, coughing, hacking, rain, bells, bargaining, selling, laughing, birds, horns, train stations, music, children, monkeys, chai-wallah-ing, and commerce. Taken out of context, these sounds both repel and attract; even if you‘ve never been to India, you‘ll feel your stomach rumble in amoebic anticipation. India has almost four times the population of the US in a space one-third the size, and the ambient sounds of daily life are inescapable. One of the recordist‘s goals here was to try to avoid the sounds of engines, resulting in a pointed aural description of daily life in India. The two-disc set is worth it for the handpainted box (made in Varanasi) alone.