Somewhere on a ridge outside Pune, the trees stopped growing straight years ago. The wind decided that for them.
You can see it in the lean - every trunk bent the same direction, like the hill itself is exhaling. No filter does that. Just years of wind picking a side.
Below, the haze swallows the valley. Somewhere under that haze is a road, a village, probably someone's morning chai getting cold. Up here it's just stone walls, power lines slicing the clouds in half, and that particular quiet you only get above the tree line.
I didn't climb far to get this. That's the thing about Deccan plateau viewpoints - you don't need Everest-tier effort for Everest-tier sky. Ten minutes from a parking lot and you're staring at this.
The clouds were doing more work than I was. I just pointed the phone.
