Prologue
Our wedding anniversary was fast approaching. This was going to be our first anniversary (not really though, because last anniversary was celebrated electronically; with me being here in India and Heramb far in the UK!). Thus we were excited to plan a long trip to somewhere outside Maharashtra. Our tour planning started with a totally off-the-beat place, the North-East India – kind of my dream destination! But then the Assam riots put a question mark in our minds sending us from extreme to extreme – from North-East to far West; Rajasthan – kind of Heramb's dream destination!
But destiny had something different in store for us. I got an opportunity to present my paper at a symposium in Dehradun. The symposium dates suitably matched our preferred travel dates and we fixed our destination – Garhwal and Kumaon in the scenic Uttarakhand state of India. Thus began the search for an appropriate itinerary with the help of Google of course! And we finalized it as Mussoorie – Haridwar – Nainital – Kausani – Jim Corbett National Park – New Delhi. With this finalized itinerary, we contacted a tour planner to book us all the tickets, hotels and a cab to accompany us throughout. It was decided that I would go ahead to Dehradun and attend the symposium and Heramb would later pick me up at the symposium venue after which we would proceed to Mussoorie.
But then again... the destiny had entirely different plans for us! I had my train from Mumbai. But the sad demise of Balasaheb Thackrey just a day before my departure, put me into a difficult position and reaching Mumbai became an issue. Finally, after long discussions, I decided to cancel my trip. Fortunately, my plane ticket was booked along with Heramb's – just in case. Finally, the day dawned, and with many “Happy Journeys'”, we departed for the Pune airport to catch the early morning flight to New Delhi.
