Vaishnavi Singh turns the last page of the novel she’s reading and looks up at the mountains before her, content. It’s the first book she’s read this year while savouring the knowledge that, for once, she doesn’t have to worry about deadlines, chores, or wonder what to do about dinner. That’s the best part of being on a reading retreat.

The 27-year-old software engineer is hundreds of miles away from home in the hilly hamlet of Satkhol, in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district. Here, at the reading vacation organised at the Himalayan Writing Retreat (HWR), all she’s done for the first couple of days is to look for a sunny spot where she can sunbathe and read to her heart’s content. On day three — the retreat is five days long — she’s already finished her first book, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, and has picked her next read.