The capriciousness of our weather is proverbial, and it is one of the three 'W's that wise men say cannot be relied upon in Kashmir. This week we had an early snowstorm which was unusually accompanied by continuous thunderclaps. I have never experienced such a combination and it was actually quite disconcerting.

My younger son, who has the sibling's effortless knack of saying things that make his brother uncomfortable, remarked that it sounded like the rumbling of a volcano. A few days earlier I had regaled them with old tales from my childhood, including the legend that the Takht-e-Suleman, also known as Shankracharya Hill, is actually a dormant volcano.

These pictures taken from my living room window over three consecutive days provide an example of the vagaries of Kashmir's weather:

13 November 2008
Max : 20°C Min: 12°C

14 November 2008
Max : 1°C Min: 0°C

15 November 2008
Max : 8°C Min: 1°C

These days I am busy building a new home for my family. Our new home is being recycled from the old house which had to be dismantled due to age-related weathering, compounded by structural damage caused by the devastating earthquake that struck Kashmir in 2005.

100% of the wood and bricks and most of the stone used in the new house will be sourced from the dismantled structure. This will significantly reduce the impact our new home would otherwise have had on the environment.

No trees will be cut down, no fossil fuels burnt in kilns, and no rocks or earth will be excavated on our account. I will sleep a little better as a consequence.

I have designed the new house myself with a few inputs from an architect friend who is an expert on heritage buildings of Kashmir. Here are a couple of pictures of my 'self-inflicted' design at the current stage of development:

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Update: Click here for a quick tour of 'Al Anqa'