Clouds have this dichotomy of sorts, they can choose to dump their wares upon a hapless wayfarer and be at the receiving end of his million curses, or they can just prefer to hang out harmlessly, keeping him guessing… on higher climes, ‘tis more often than not a race against the clouds than time in the higher climes, their linearity juxtaposed against the circularity of the weather… for they can be shelter, or send a creature scampering for one… they can offer solace from a harsh sun, or make one yearn for the yellow dwarf…

I was mumbling these thoughts to myself while getting down to the comforts of the meadowy expanses of the Valley of Flowers after a couple of days spent getting hopping moraines and glaciers… ‘twas a stark change of landscape, traversing the eastern extremity of the arid Zaskar range into the folds of the Greater Himalaya teeming with biodiversity, curving over a rather sullen looking Bhyundar Khal…

Clouds were a constant companion all through this trudge, not the ones that precipitate, but the kind that just hang in a pall… they did open up later though as we descended into the Valley of Flowers… by reversing the usual trekking route, we had the advantage of hiking through the drier parts of an otherwise monsoon ravaged state into torrential rains…

So, the clouds for this week were perceived as benevolent, offering relief from that invisible scourge called ultraviolet rays… we met them in the mornings as they rose up from the moraines and meadows, a game of optics as the sun, reflected off the ice, refracted in their folds… by the afternoon they drove up, wafting off the glaciers before congregating around mountaintops… letting off a drizzle or two or some snow along the way but never a deluge… we were getting the good tidings of these mountains as counselled by the wizened ones of yore… for once, the vapours were not venomous but benign, and no one was quite missing the sunshine…

Musing on clouds, Bhyundar Khal, Uttarakhand…