Prelude

It was one of those afternoons, when I was sitting round the comp, bored as usual, checking my stocks and trying to decide what to do about it (but not having the money to do anything anyways) when Sumedh chatted up on Gtalk, asking me whether I was interested in going for a cycling trip in the Himalayas.

Usually, I would think about the problems facing such an endeavor; viz. parents objections, money, time etc., in that order, of course. But this time, I was seriously bored. I just said Yes.

I later started anticipating resistance from my folks. My dad indeed did give in some words of disapproval, but relented in an hour or so. Mom was so lenient I kind of realized that I don't really know my parents that well!

Sumedh was able to rope in a third person called Manish. We registered ourselves well in advance, and Sumedh booked tickets for Delhi by rail and back by air. By the way, you can avail a 30% discount on airfares if you use an ICICI Gold Credit Card.

The rail tickets were acquired a few days beore the departure on tatkal basis. We were good to go.