Tues. 12/8 I left Delhi on Sun. am,anticipating a calm, serene drive in a taxi
to Mussoorie. That idea went literally out the car window as we pulled away from the hotel and started flying through the streets of Delhi. Sunday am.. quiet... no traffic??? Oh my no!!! It took us about an hour to get out of Delhi, not due to going slow, just due to the size of the city. I did not catch the driver's name so this one will be named Mr. Driver. Close calls...too many in the 7 1/2 hour drive.
Seeing the poverty of Delhi in the daylight...just way too difficult to describe..watching women bath their children in water on the street, a man brushing his teeth in the gutter water... on and on....We turned off and then went on a straight road following a river for about 2 1/2 -3 hours. Every 3-4 miles a cross road, driver would briefly look and then continue on The road was barely big enough for 1 1/2 cars, never mind adding horse, cow and donkey pulled wagons with loads of sugar cane and bamboo, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians. We were doing about 50 - 60 mph and sometimes slowing down for the close calls. Again Mr. Driver (similar to Rashib) had his thumbs on the horn the entire way. Other vehicles would come face at us and at the last minute each vehicle would swerve to be in their own lane... barely. I thought I should use any connections I might have to see if I could get Mr. Driver into NASCAR or stunt driving in Hollywood (or Bollywood!). We got off the river road onto a wider road but more populated with obstacles...more pedestrians, more wagons, more "public carriers" (large open backed trucks with about 20-25 men hanging on them), buses AND at the same rate of speed. Mr. Driver remained calm, I was trying to as well but when we stopped for a break, I had to pry my left hand off the door handle and massage it as it had been in a death grip on the handle...
After these roads came the real test... an hour from Dehradun to Mussoorie through winding, and STEEP mountainous roads. THe drop off on the sides beats ANY mountain pass road I have ever been on and only was I truly aware of the real drop off when I
got out to take pictures upon seeing Mussoorie for the first time and Mr. Driver pointed over the edge...GULP... We made it... in time to spare for a Christmas Chapel service for the entire school, which turned out to be the Service of Lessons and Carols... There was my calm and serene time.... And.. seeing Catherine for the first time...both of us in tears.. hugging and laughing too...Singing carols and listening to the service was just sureal.. We had dinner in the upper school dining hall, then I took a taxi to the hotel. It is located on an steep edge of the mountainside and has a spectacular view looking south. The hotel.... well, I"m in India... it's all relative. Mussoorie is built on the sides of steep hills and everywhere one walks, it's either up or down,rarely level.
I spent the day MOnday organizing clothes, reading and sitting on my balcony in the gorgeous sun. Met Catherine after her exam (she had three on Monday and was pretty fried). We went to the best restaurant in Musoorie, owned by the son of the man who owns the hotel I'm in...and it was still very inexpensive We walked around the bazaar, simply fascinating and everything is so inexpensive. Catherine stayed with me last night. She had an exam at 1:00 but met someone to study with at 11:00. We had breakfast in a small cafe.
I hiked above the school and had a simply spectacular view of the HImalayas...
I will post pictures as soon as I'm able to.... All is well... even though I keep pinching myself... Namaste