A Slightly Off-Key Beginning
Has it ever happened to you that a trip feels unreal right from the start? A strange sensation in your stomach—an uneasiness about whether you’ll be able to live up to what you’ve already romanticised about a place. If yes, then you’ll probably relate to this trip of mine. I was on a solo backpacking trip to Uttarakhand—my first time travelling out of state almost alone. I was unusually nervous about Mussoorie, with a persistent gut feeling that after the amazing four days in Rishikesh, it simply wouldn’t be able to outdo it. Hesitantly, I said goodbye to the sere ne Ganges of the city—a place that became pivotal to the collaboration between Indian classical maestro Pt. Ravi Shankar and Western rock sensation The Beatles, giving birth to the iconic “East meets West” phrase—and headed off toward the chaos of Dehra. I caught a bus from Rishikesh to Dehradun around 8:30–9 AM, already irritated after getting fleeced by a rickshaw driver for a distance barely worth mentioning. I reached Deh...