Nascent forms

The desire for our journey arose in my mind and since my husband immediately agreed, we decided, in March 2006 to do it in October 2006. My husband and I had been to Uttaranchal in 2000 and had always dreamt of coming back.

We invited relatives and friends we knew were interested in such a journey. All except one, refused. He had bought Stephen Alter’s book: Sacred Waters, read it in March 2006 and promised himself that he too would reach those places, someday. And when I sent him our tentative schedule, he sent me the book. Both had the same places and the same serial order, almost. Coincidence? I do not believe in them.

Later on, my parents agreed. So it became a group of five adults, aged, 70(m), 69(f), 57(m) and 40(f,m). We scouted on the internet for relevant information and prepare us for the journey. We all of us worked at preparations: physical, mental, logistics, bookings, information and knowledge.

We found out that maps and distance information did not always tally on the internet. We hired a Tata Safari from our usual car hirer in Delhi with Idris as our driver. All our accommodation was booked with Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam’s tourist rest houses (GMVN TRH), except at Badrinath.