By European standards, British austerity has not, therefore, been terribly austere; government spending has fallen in real terms by only 7% since the Tories came to power in 2010.
From childhood an Indian is brought up on the notion that austerity and a contented life is good.Mr Narayan's own upbringing was not austere.
The puffin seems eminently suitable to be our national bird: a dapper little character who is equally at home on sea or land, given to hedonistic feasting when the seasons allow, but also capable of austere self-denial (they spend their winters out in the North Atlantic).
The people spoke and with a decided voice: in England they called for a conservative approach to social policy and economics, while in Scotland, giving the SNP a landslide, the Scots have demanded a radically different and less austere road than the rest of Britain.
The songs fell silent when people reached the austere amphitheatre of the Union Buildings, built in light sandstone a century ago and in the style of the ancients – the government describes it as a "modern-day acropolis" atop a hill.
Her values were simple and straightforward, based on the austere Methodism of her childhood – hard work, self-discipline and thrift.
With the help of Henning Kristiansen's atmospheric cinematography, in a range of muted primary colours, Axel captures the bleak Jutland peninsula of the 1870s, where live two unmarried sisters (Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel), daughters of the former pastor, and founder of an austere religious sect, who devote themselves to keeping alive his memory and his teachings in the tiny remote community.
+33 5 5340 8924, chateauderodie.com Nothing austere about this imposing, lovingly restored, 15th-century fortified castle in Usseau.
For fans of a plain, austere look, there is a simple Putin headshot, mouth set in an implacable determination and eyes hidden behind a pair of shades, embossed on a plain white or black t-shirt.
So while this certainly is an austere budget – and very much so for certain sections of the population in broader economic terms it is not the massive slamming on the brakes that it could have been.
It's more than likely that some are descendants of bulbs bred in the mid-19th century by William Backhouse, who hybridised them in the grounds of his austere country house high above Wolsingham, among conifer plantations and windswept moorland at St Johns, on the edge of Pikestone Fell.
