By 6am, the sun over Banda had already forgotten it was morning.

The light had the hard glare of a summer afternoon. Shadows were shrinking before breakfast.

In May, this dusty district in India's Uttar Pradesh state spent days at the top of an unenviable national ranking: the hottest place in the country. Temperatures hovered at 47-48C (116-118F) for more than a week, an extraordinary run even by local standards.

Yet what was striking was the way in which people adapted. Banda's more than two million residents - many dependent on farming, construction, transport and other outdoor work - had little option but to endure the heat. They were rearranging their lives around it.

Thirty kilometres from the district headquarters, the vegetable market at Atarra was already winding down before most cities had properly woken up. Farmers arrived at dawn with tomatoes, gourds, chillies, lemons and melons. Everyone wanted to sell their wares quickly and get home before the heat intensified.

"Look at the sun," said Himanshu, a trader standing beside crates of tomatoes. "It's only 6.15am, but it feels like 8-9am."

The heat was shortening the life of his produce as surely as it was shortening the market day. "A box of tomatoes must be sold today or tomorrow. In this weather they won't last."

Where trading once bustled until late morning, activity now faded by 8am. By 10am, the market was almost deserted.