Only the second day of Lent and I broke my commitment. I think that’s excusable under the circumstances. Today (though I’m writing this on Saturday) I rose at 4.30am, drove to Laura’s and Indu’s hotel, only to find that they couldn’t get out! (They had checked out the night before but the fellow on duty was asleep.) I climbed the fence, slippery with frost, saw the girls through a glass-panelled door and suggested that they ring reception while I banged on reception’s door. That got action and soon we were away. We reached Chandigarh, over 300km down the hill, by 1pm. I shouted them lunch at Nik Baker’s, an excellent bakery cum coffee shop chain run by a fellow who was trained in Australia, then took Laura to the airport and Indu to the railway station.
Their’s was a good visit, a 6 months probationary check on how Lena and I are doing. Laura’s young but calm, confident and already very experienced at living in non-western situations. Indu’s a fine young woman two months from being married, and her insights and questions were often valuable.
I then drove to Shimla, starting at about 3pm, using the new Himalayan Expressway and arriving by about 6pm. I was met outside Shimla by 2 staff of St Thomas’ CNI School who guided me to an overnight carpark used by patrons of Shimla’s famous Toy Train, then took me up to the YWCA perched on a ridge near the top of the town. After dinner delivered to my room, I promptly fell asleep in all my clothes. I was exhausted!
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