Monday's Inspiration: Darjeeling Light

photos by Jehad Nga for The New York Times

I miss India and am not sure why I haven't gone back for so long. Possibly because if I did, I'd want to just stay forever. I went once for a quick trip to Darjeeling and ended up staying for over two weeks, partly because it was a bit difficult to get way up there, to the top of India itself, mostly because I got to love the quiet hill-station towns of the Himalayas,with buildings clinging to the sides of hills, distant views of mountains, large landscapes of mossy green-ness, tropical and alpine at the same time, the rusty corrugated raj-era rooftops, low silvery clouds with a palpable dampness equaling more green, more rust. I loved the afternoon light, the afternoon tea; the seriousness of tea and the vastness of the golden light.