Breathe in the crisp mountain air, and bite into luscious home-
grown apples at Raju Bharati's homestay  The cold mountain
waters gurgled past unhurriedly as I struggled to rest atop a
weather-chiselled rock on the river bank. I then turned my
attention towards the water dancing around my ankles,
deliciously cold and refreshing, as I dipped my feet into the
Tirthan river. I breathed in the crisp mountain air and sipped
fragrant tea, reclining languorously on my chosen rock to lazily
read a book.  My friend chose to stare into the beauteous sights
surrounding us, mesmerised. It was unthinkable that only a day
before we were breathing in Gurgaon's polluted air and nearly
decomposing in the sweltering summer heat.  Mountain hamlet  We
were in Gushaini, a tiny hamlet nestled in the verdant folds of
the Tirthan Valley in Kullu district. This mountain hamlet would
have been like any other village that dots the hills and mighty
mountains of North India, if not for Raju Bharati, an
enterprising man who has converted h