Sunrise by the pool

We reached Panambi late on a Friday, dusty from the Delhi–NCR drive, and the front desk still had that unhurried hill-station calm. Our cottage key came with a quiet tip: “Pool looks best at sunrise.”

So we set an alarm.

At 6:10 the lawn was empty. Mist sat low over the water. Someone had already laid towels on a few loungers. I walked barefoot to the edge, coffee in hand, and watched the first gold hit the hills behind the cottages. No music, no rush — just birds and the soft filter sound of the pool.

That hour set the tone for the whole weekend. We still did Triveni in the evening and ate MAP dinners like everyone else, but the memory that stuck was that still morning — the film-like quiet you see in the resort videos, only it was ours.