Bharari road sits just above the noise of Shimla, where the pine slopes begin and the town's clatter thins out into birdsong. This ground-floor apartment spreads itself out generously here, three bedrooms and one large open lounge, the sort of place eight people can spill into and settle without anyone feeling short of room.

The lounge is the centre of everything. Six hundred square feet of it, with two deep sofa sets, a large screen, and heaters humming away while the weather does whatever it likes outside. Board games come out after dinner. Somebody puts music on. The younger ones claim the floor and refuse to move.