'Lone Company' @ Joshimath - India

When travel plans go haywire, they can ruin a perfectly beautiful day for you.

I was snuggled up in a Razai (quilt) all sad and sombre. My friend was away for double laning of the Joshimath-Badrinath Highway. This was their peak working season before the tourists poured in.

I would have been in Auli skiing and basking in the high altitude sun on the best ski slopes in India. But here I was wallowing in self-pity and anger, all alone. It had snowed heavily and the roads would take a few hours to clear. This meant one whole day was going to get wasted out of the two I had planned here.

I decided to go and sit in the balcony.

The view outside took me by surprise. What was bare and barren yesterday looked majestic today. The snow had transformed the desolate driveway.

A lone sparrow perched proudly on a branch put me to shame. She was so full of life and dignity that my misery seemed unwarranted (you can see the look on her face if you zoom into the photograph). I smiled in awe. I picked up my camera and don't remember how time flew. Such proximity with nature is possible only when one is alone. Think, reflect, muse, soak it in....isn't that what we want to do from time to time?? Somehow it gets lost in the mad adrenalin rush to log in and check mark our 'to do' list.

I can now genuinely claim that a li'l birdie told me, "It isn't always so bad to be alone on a snowy day".

I went skiing the next day. Absolutely loved it. But those few serene hours in the balcony still remain the highlight of my Auli trip.

Nanda Devi Peak (second highest in India) in the background