There is a particular quality to spring mornings at this altitude. The air is cold — maybe 8 degrees — but the sun, when it clears the ridge around 6:15, is immediately warm on your skin.
The rhododendrons are in full bloom right now. The forest behind the house is a wall of red and pink. It looks almost unreal, like someone painted it.
The dawn chorus
The birds start before the light does. Around 5:30, a verditer flycatcher that lives in the oak nearest the kitchen begins. Then the laughingthrushes join in from further down the slope. By 6am it is a full orchestra.
We have started keeping a list. So far this spring: Himalayan monal, bar-tailed treecreeper, black-headed jay, white-throated laughingthrush, and at least three species of warbler we haven't identified yet.
First chai
The routine is always the same. Kettle on. Ginger, cardamom, loose leaf from the tin. Stand on the veranda while it brews and watch the valley fill with light.
This is the hour when the mountains look closest. Before the haze builds, before the wind picks up, the peaks are sharp and detailed. You can see individual snowfields on Nanda Devi.
The season begins
The first trekkers are arriving. A couple from Bangalore came last week — they are heading to Niti Valley. They sat on the veranda after dinner and said they had never heard silence like this.
That is always the thing that surprises people most. Not the view, not the food, not the room. The silence.