The smell of the blue pine and conifer trees that carpet the hills lingers in the air long after you have taken the last turn into Thanedar. Also lingering in this fruit bowl of India is reverence for an American missionary who headed to these hills in 1904 and transformed the village. The apple trees he planted in Kotgarh next door continue to reap a rich harvest even 100 years later. In fact, Samuel, a.k.a. Satyanand, Stokes is a byword in the region. The belt is replete with apple boughs and the region spells magic between May and end-June.