We'll Be Coming Around The Mountain When We Come

A car with driver was hired for us for the Nainital leg of our trip. We had planned to leave Delhi at about 7:30a.m., but ended up leaving by about 9:00a.m. since we stopped for coffee at the Delhi Gymkhana Club where Wayne Gonsalves was staying and where we also met up with Noel da Lima Leitao and family (Nayantara and Nicholas). En route to Naini (on the outskirts of Delhi) we also met up with Amul "Millie"Mehotra and his wife Bharti and made further seating adjustments. We then set off in a convoy of three cars.

Along the way we continued to catch up and reminisce, stopping twice, once for brunch at a roadside "dhaba" (a.k.a. diner) which served up the greatest Indian omelets, and once (nearer to Nainital) at the Corbett Museum in Kaladhungi.

The 1-1/2 hour ride from "the plains" up and around the hills into Nainital was not as treacherous as I remember, but we had hired experienced "hill" drivers for a reason. I had taken Gravol just in case, so there were no ill (excuse the pun) effects.

We arrived in Nainital at about 4:30p.m. and checked into the Balrampur House which is near the Swiss hotel for those who know Nainital.

Our rooms were all different sizes since this was once a Maharaja's home, so the larger units went to those with families; Wayne and I (the only single people) each took a smaller room. Nevertheless, everyone was on the same floor (second) and shared the huge veranda, which became our regular meeting place before meals and excursions.

That evening, we met a couple of our former "day-scholar" classmates, Rakesh Ahuja and Atul Shah, at the Nainital Boat Club for drinks and appetizers. It was really neat to see the lake all lit up at night. We then returned to the hotel with our local friends for dinner and a very late night solving the world's problems. Some of us would pay for that the next day when another batch of folks would be arriving and we would be making the first trek up to the school.