The Girl in Green Sweater (An extract from "Gods & Ghosts of Himalayas")

I loved the way there was no sense of urgency that dark night. My uncle was retired. Aunt and mother also did not have to go anywhere in the morning. The stars were incredibly clear, and I was sitting alone on the long balcony viewing them. As the night wore on and more people turned out the lights, the star-like lights on the opposite hills started to disappear one by one, and the real ones in the sky kept getting brighter.

My ears, despite being covered by the thick woollen cap were now hurting with cold. I placed the hot chocolate cup against my ear allowing its gentle heat to pass through the wool. I felt the blood thawing in my ear. In that moment, when I was enjoying the heavenly warmth of the chocolate milk with my eyes closed, I heard a mischievous chuckle.

I shook out of my chair and opened my eyes. A girl was sitting next to me in a chair. I had no idea when she came to the balcony, and even if there was another chair placed beside me. She must have come from the other rooms in the building, as it was a long balcony shared by many rooms. She was wearing a cream-coloured suit and a green round-neck sweater. There was no dupatta, no cap, no gloves, or shoes even. It was crazy to dress like this for such weather. But she seemed very comfortable. She was perhaps a local who was adjusted to the climate.

‘Hello,’ I said. Now thinking of how funny it must have been for her, to see me placing the cup on my ear like I was trying to listen to the cup.

‘Feeling cold eh,’ she said, in a silvery, incredibly lovely voice. The smile never left her face.

‘Yes, it is chilly,’ I nodded, my breath forming a faint mist in the frigid night.

‘Then why are you sitting here?’

‘I like it here. The view, the silence—it feels amazing, very peaceful. It is something I do not often experience in the city’ I said, with a shy smile on my lips, like it was some guilty pleasure.

An extract from "Gods & Ghosts of Himalayas"  read more at https://amzn.in/d/gYrpmNH