Delhi was humid and sweltering, even though it was supposed to be mid monsoon. We spent the day at the residence of some relatives, crosschecking that we had all we needed and buying last minute stuff. None of the guys had sunscreen as I suspected, and I forced them to buy some. The ungrateful brats, of course, made comments like "God, I'm sure you must have 5 litres of the stuff, why do we need to buy extra?" but they would eat their words later.
At around 7 pm we lugged our haversacks, climbed into cycle rickshaws and made our way to the metro station at Dwarka. This time there were no trolleys and we hefted the sacks onto our shoulders. My bro-in-law quipped that I looked like an ant scurrying with a huge leaf on its back.
Sudhir uncle in his infinite wisdom had told us to keep our sacks unopened after the airport security check, upto the point where we boarded the metro. This allowed us to bypass the metro check. They only checked that the airport seals were unbroken and waved us in. It would have been an ordeal to open the sacks and repack them.
At the old delhi Station, we had dinner in the waiting room. We had carried methi parathas, sweet puris and laddoos to avoid eating at the station canteen. After dinner we climbed up and down the numerous stairways to reach the appropriate platform. Our train, the Ranikhet Express was right on time. Gratefully, we dumped the luggage and made ourselves comfortable. It was 10:45 pm when the train left Delhi Station and all of us fell asleep almost immediately.
I woke up refreshed at 5 am. It was to become a habit over the next few days. After freshening up, I woke up the few in the group who were still asleep. By the time we had some tea and got the luggage together, the train was pulling into the Kathgodam station. It was 6:30 am and the train was on the dot.
Even there, standing on the platform at the railway station, I could feel the difference in the air. The cold mountain air of Uttaranchal was crisp and the sky was a vivid blue. Adi Kailash, we are on our way, I thought and felt a thrill deep in my bones.
At around 7 pm we lugged our haversacks, climbed into cycle rickshaws and made our way to the metro station at Dwarka. This time there were no trolleys and we hefted the sacks onto our shoulders. My bro-in-law quipped that I looked like an ant scurrying with a huge leaf on its back.
Sudhir uncle in his infinite wisdom had told us to keep our sacks unopened after the airport security check, upto the point where we boarded the metro. This allowed us to bypass the metro check. They only checked that the airport seals were unbroken and waved us in. It would have been an ordeal to open the sacks and repack them.
At the old delhi Station, we had dinner in the waiting room. We had carried methi parathas, sweet puris and laddoos to avoid eating at the station canteen. After dinner we climbed up and down the numerous stairways to reach the appropriate platform. Our train, the Ranikhet Express was right on time. Gratefully, we dumped the luggage and made ourselves comfortable. It was 10:45 pm when the train left Delhi Station and all of us fell asleep almost immediately.
I woke up refreshed at 5 am. It was to become a habit over the next few days. After freshening up, I woke up the few in the group who were still asleep. By the time we had some tea and got the luggage together, the train was pulling into the Kathgodam station. It was 6:30 am and the train was on the dot.
Even there, standing on the platform at the railway station, I could feel the difference in the air. The cold mountain air of Uttaranchal was crisp and the sky was a vivid blue. Adi Kailash, we are on our way, I thought and felt a thrill deep in my bones.
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