Vidhi smiled. There was a blossoming red flower near her feet. Vidhi plucked it and while putting it in her hair said, ‘Yes, it looks like a fog but these are actually hills. In fact, so many people come to Darjeeling just to witness their stunning beauty.’ Dariush could not believe that the milky mist and fog he was looking at were actually the hills. He looked around to capture the entire scene. Around him were saal and oak trees and the alpine jungles stretched till the borders of Bhutan and Sikkim. Everything was so enchanting that he had forgotten that he had come here after crossing the thorny bushes in search of sweet water. Vidhi remembered that. She held him by his hand and dragged him forward. At one end of the circle was a slippery slope with a pathway. Vidhi said that they need to move very slowly and carefully there. They turned after five minutes where a spring was falling from a cliff playing its natural music. It kept flowing till it found a mountain edge to fall down as a waterfall. The spring was falling from a height of around six or seven feet. The place where the water accumulated was not more than knee-deep. Dariush and Vidhi stood a few steps away from the water. Vidhi freed her fingers from his hands and pointed towards the water, ‘The world’s sweetest water awaits you.’

‘Is there any danger further ahead?’ Dariush inquired.

Vidhi looked at him and said, ‘The danger is behind you.’

Dariush tried smiling. Vidhi held his hand again. They started walking in the water. A butterfly, four dragon flies and an insect hummed around them. A caterpillar slept on a rock near the place from where the spring originated. The tiny fibres on the caterpillar’s body shone brightly in the sunlight. On seeing Dariush and Vidhi approaching, the butterflies, dragonflies and the insects flew upwards and vanished into the ravine. Dariush bent and put his lips on the flowing water to drink it. Vidhi was looking at him. Dariush collected a little water in his mouth, looked at Vidhi and drank it. The taste of the water was indescribable. He pulled Vidhi towards himself pleasantly and hugged her. ‘I have never drunk such tasty water before.’