A third room had a covered well with a pump.Ī wooden staircase led to the upper rooms. The next room had enough fodder for the winter. They were in the large room which opened to the back of the house, along with Panditji’s animals. She had moved in her three goats, two lambs, and two sheep. Daksha would be living here during the harsh winter months. It was made of wood, stone, mud bricks, and plastered with clay. Panditji’s house was the biggest in the hamlet. “What will you make of it?” she asked the week- old lamb cradled in her arms. There was a whiff of fresh chill in the air and the sky was changing color to the north. Three or four days of heavy snowfall were enough to block the narrow path and cut the hamlet from the rest of the world.ĭaksha breathed in the mountain air. During the winter months, the route was frequently impassable. The nearest village was a good two-day mule ride away. It was surrounded by mountains that remained ice-clad all through the year. (vaidya: an ayurvedic doctor ayurveda: traditional medicine, native to India).ĭaksha’s hamlet was high up in the Himalayas.
She watched until he was a speck in the white landscape. Daksha stood watching Panditji, the vaidya, go slowly down the mountain on his mule. The ice- covered mountains glowed with a quiet light. It was a clear day, without any mist, and a pale sun shone in the sky.
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