field note
Pre-monsoon mist over Purola
Looking south from the upper terrace at Chaptari, three weeks before the monsoon broke. The town of Purola sits in the cup of the valley below; Kedarkantha lies just out of view to the north.
· Sameer Jain · 1 min read
Most evenings in May, the air below us holds the day's heat for an hour after sunset, and then a flat band of cloud drifts up from the valley floor and wraps the lower ridges. We stand on the upper terrace and watch the town of Purola disappear under it slowly, like a slide projector going dark.
The monsoon proper arrives between 15 and 20 June at this altitude. By the time it does, the cloud will not lift again for ten weeks. The trees will go from thirsty to sodden in about three days. The lower paths will close. The wild apricots will ripen all at once.
We had been here three months when this photograph was taken. The hardest thing for a flatland person learning the hills is to stop thinking in days and start thinking in seasons. The monsoon does not care if we are ready.