Holi! Ambitious plans again to get up early by Vasu and I and go to see the Forest Research Institute, a magnificent building and premises set against the Mussoorie hills in the background. However owing to yet another round of story telling session by the indefatigable Koni (that fountain of stories with unfinished endings) that consumed a large part of the night, and a holi celebration by burning huge logs of wood by a neighbour which we attended, the early morning getaway was stalled. People started oozing out of beds much later than planned and slowly drifted to the sunny lawns, with newspapers, cups of tea etc.
Vasu and I went to the Forest Research Institute but it was shut for visitors owing to Holi. We clicked some snaps of the magnificent building from the gates and returned. A good, solid breakfast of toast and eggs thanks to Vicky amd Mohan and Koni and I were the first to leave Dehradun. Flight at 1 from Dehradun's quaint little Jolly Grant airport (which is much closer to Rishikesh than Dehradun by the way, takes an hour from Dehradun to reach). Less than an hour to Delhi and we landed at the brand new Terminal 3 of GMR, vast and like nothing I have seen. Koni says it is on par with any International airport in the world. We walked along the long aisles, corridors, shopping, checked in early and settled down for some lunch. We got another spanking new flight on Air India to Hyderabad, lovely food, music and movies, and we dropped down at Hyderabad before we knew it.
I’ll remember the trip for being so unique – every day was so different from the other. The unstoppable laughter that boy gangs enjoy, some sense of vague freedom, that only boys/men appear to feel when they are by themselves. Much thanks is owed to Vasu for driving this venture forward without letting go and Ranjan for tirelessly and thoughtfully organising everything so perfectly and making it so memorable. Koni for his madness and non stop entertainment, Kiri for his easily triggered laughter and ready to party attitude and Aditya for proving the glamour, the innocence and the fresh perspective that we would have lost and perhaps resonated with, in these years. Thanks a lot guys for making it a truly wonderful Himalayan sojourn for me.
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| The Forest Research of India campus, Dehradun, with a faint silhoutte of Mussoorie's mountains behind |
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| Vasu outside the FRI gates |
Vasu and I went to the Forest Research Institute but it was shut for visitors owing to Holi. We clicked some snaps of the magnificent building from the gates and returned. A good, solid breakfast of toast and eggs thanks to Vicky amd Mohan and Koni and I were the first to leave Dehradun. Flight at 1 from Dehradun's quaint little Jolly Grant airport (which is much closer to Rishikesh than Dehradun by the way, takes an hour from Dehradun to reach). Less than an hour to Delhi and we landed at the brand new Terminal 3 of GMR, vast and like nothing I have seen. Koni says it is on par with any International airport in the world. We walked along the long aisles, corridors, shopping, checked in early and settled down for some lunch. We got another spanking new flight on Air India to Hyderabad, lovely food, music and movies, and we dropped down at Hyderabad before we knew it.
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| Mellow sun, hot tea, the news and a lazy vacation |
I’ll remember the trip for being so unique – every day was so different from the other. The unstoppable laughter that boy gangs enjoy, some sense of vague freedom, that only boys/men appear to feel when they are by themselves. Much thanks is owed to Vasu for driving this venture forward without letting go and Ranjan for tirelessly and thoughtfully organising everything so perfectly and making it so memorable. Koni for his madness and non stop entertainment, Kiri for his easily triggered laughter and ready to party attitude and Aditya for proving the glamour, the innocence and the fresh perspective that we would have lost and perhaps resonated with, in these years. Thanks a lot guys for making it a truly wonderful Himalayan sojourn for me.
2 comments:
That was a great read. I felt I was there reading it. I wish Iwere there. Next time for sure. On to Phuket for more fun and more adventures.
Madhav, It would have been a blast if the full house was there, you, Don et al. Anyway, more opportunities surely to be in the hills, the beaches - and Phuket.
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