Vaishno Devi, the yearly oneVaishno Devi, the yearly one

Some quests are yearly by design. This is ours — the climb up to the Vaishno Devi shrine with the same crew, every year, no matter what the calendar’s doing.

You round the mountain in the half-dark and the whole Bhawan is lit up red and gold against the cliff, and even the most jaded of us goes quiet for a second. Then someone does something stupid for the camera and the spell breaks. Exactly as it should be.