Well, Himalayas are known for their snows. Sitting in a Himalayan homestay, I was wondering this with the locals. Sitting in the common tandoor room, feeling the warmth of the burning woods in the room, while smoke is just let out in a pipe through the roof.
Manoj ji’s mother at the Happy Trails homestay, with her smile, said, snows are known here. And she started to tell me the different kinds of snow that fall in this region. She said it snows very differently, as the incoming snow season is good for the glaciers and water sources and thus agriculture, while the outgoing snows are just okay. They are also heavier with water and thus difficult to clear.
While I had heard this before, about how the earth’s surface is warmer in the outgoing winter months, thus the cumulative melt is much more than the snowfall itself, not adding to glacial feedings.
When sitting in homestays, this experience is unique, especially when you have hosts like Manoj, who loves to know and tell things. Who is a keen observer and an astound thinker.
It’s called “Mu” here. The snow, and not just mu.
When it’s small small snowfalling, like the smallest pearls, it’s called “Nyirtschi Mu.” Mostly with the incoming winters. This kind of snow also means it’s going to be more Mu. Or it’s going to snow heavily in the coming days.
There’s also “Lakar Mu,” the big snowfall, big blobs falling down. Not just this, but there’s also “Kharchod Mu,” meaning rain and snow coming together.
She also said that when the snowfall is about to stop, we see “Lemzee Mu.” The glittering snow, when it falls like tiny glitters and shines back with the light.
And of course there’s also the windy snow, called “Latang Mu.”
As she said all this, I took out my phone and noted these down. Well, I had to write about this.
The kinds of snowfall. Interesting, for everyone for whom it just means snow.
Well, with the family, we discussed more about the kinds of Mu, even how the valleys themselves have different words and their own language for Mu. I don’t really know when my phone was kept back in the pocket, as I just listened and laughed along with them. All those words couldn’t get documented, and that was fine. Some things stay as your joy of discovery. Anytime you come to the Himalayas, especially when it snows, do ask the locals what kind of Mu they have a word for.
As I walked on the road next day, little flakes started to fall. I slowed down, watching how tiny and soft they were. By the time I headed back to the room, the whole sky looked set for something bigger.
It looked like Nyirtschi Mu, I said to myself. And if that was true, the heavy snow was on its way.
I had planned to leave, but seeing those first flakes drifting down, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere for the next two days. I would be right here, sitting in the warmth of that tandoor room again, watching the mountains sink quietly into the Mu everyone had told me about.
