Family House with birthday boy

The 400+ year old family house has a new occupant. To be accurate Ashish is 1 year old today - so has been in residency all that time. So Ashish lives with Ankush & Dimple his parents - with Ankush's brother Dimpi and sister Rini. These three are all Subhash & Amra's kids - and top of the household as ever - is the matriarch Mata-ji - Subhash's mother.

It's been great to be welcomed immediately into the bosom of this loving family - the four generations working effortlessly & efficiently together as a traditional, self sufficient whole - with enough space for a few 'Jaggar Maggars' (hippy blow-ins).

Have actually eaten more meals with the family than in the lodge next door so far - the rice and dahl superlative, the conversation rather minimal - owing to my complete lack of Hindi. Most of my interactions would be helped but minimally with Hindi in fact - as Mataji speaks mainly the local dialect - which is closer to Bengali by all accounts (which is partly why Sonia-ji gets on so well) The 3 kids are now all grown up and coming out of themselves cf the more awkward, teenage years of last visit.

The rain has been solid for weeks by all accounts - today however the sun arrived - and it's all looking lovely - with a fresh covering of snow on the peaks all around.

Home! Tik Ha!