Perfumers in India use hands to measure temperature as they concoct ‘ittr’ scent with a centuries-old technique. Amidst the dust, cow dung and petrol fumes, the whiff of ethereal scents linger in the air. It’s India’s perfume capital, Kannauj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Here shops are crammed with cut-glass decanters filled with ‘ittr’, which means fragrance in Persian. Perfumers here have been concocting natural fragrances and essential oils for at least 500 years. Kannauj's $1.5 billion industry provides employment to about 80 percent of the district's population of 1.6 million. Pranjal Kapoor is a partner at ML Ramnarain perfumers, who have been making ‘ittr’ for five generations. At their 100-year-old distillery, they still use an artisanal process dating back at least 1000 years, hydro-distillation or ‘degh-bhapka’ in Hindi. Fresh flowers are plucked from fields and brought to these distilleries where they are poured into the ‘degh’, or copper stills that contain exactly 80 litres of water. The ‘degh’ is then sealed with a mix of clay and cotton and once the firewood in the clay oven is lit, alchemy begins.