When Pune Forgets to Turn Off the Sky

There's a window - maybe fifteen minutes - between sunset and full dark where the city hasn't decided what it wants to be yet.

The buildings go quiet. The hills flatten into silhouettes. And the sky does something the daytime never allows: it slows down.

I've watched this gradient shift from my terrace more times than I can count. It never looks the same twice. Some evenings it's deep red, almost angry. Tonight it was this - a slow burn from amber to ash, the kind of light that makes you stop scrolling and just look up.

Pune doesn't get enough credit for its skies. Everyone talks about the hills, the weather, the chaos. Nobody talks about what happens right after the sun checks out.

These two frames, shot minutes apart. Same sky, different mood.

Shot from a Pune terrace. Smartphone.