I
woke up leisurely since I did not have anything urgent at hand to complete. The
social media updates had been done and the documentation were all up to date.
After a luxurious shower I went to the restaurant and had a filling breakfast.
With all that done I remembered that I had not paid for the stay in the ORH in
Mussoorie that was on contract with the hotel. I took an auto to the Dehra Dun
railway station. All the officials were busy with the inspection of a senior
officer. I met the Station Manager on the platform and stated my intention of
visiting there. He deputed one of his minions and asked me to make the payment
in the office of the SMR. I did not have to wait very long to complete the
formalities. This despite the fact that what was being done was against rules
in force. Payment for the ORH was to be done in advance and the receipt
produced at the time of check in. in this case I was making the payment after
checking out. However, all formalities were done smoothly. I was also made to
have a cup of tea while waiting for the documentation to be done.
I took some time to go around the station
building out of sheer nostalgia. It was at this station that I had arrived on 1
September 1981 as a ‘fresher’ to join the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy
of Administration. During the train journey from Delhi I had made a few friends
who were also on their way to the Academy as probationers. After disembarking
from the train we were directed to large buses that took us on the fairy tale
drive to Mussoorie. We had stoppeden route for a cup of tea and the nippy air had
made me pull my summer clothing closer to keep warm. Those three months in
Mussoorie had been sublime.
Back in the hotel I had lunch and checked up
on the situation in Nepal. Apparently things were going from bad to worse as
per fresh inputs. The entry via Ruxaul was also ruled out. I could try to get
into Nepal via Sonauli, which would require major re-routing vis-à-vis the
route laid out by Limca Book of Records. I spoke to the Associate Editor of LBR
and appraised him of the situation I was facing. He was very supportive and
requested that I maintain proper supporting documents to justify the re-route.
That was a major tension off my back. The Bhagat Ford team assured me that the
car would be ready by late evening. I took the remaining spare time to decide
the revised route. Later in the evening I decided to head for Sonauli via
Haridwar and Bareilly with a break overnight at Lucknow. I also made
arrangements for accommodation in the ORH in Lucknow. The idea was to somehow
get to a border post of Nepal, assess the situation first hand and thereafter
decide what to do.
As I was finalising plans for the next two
days I got a call from Bhagat Ford informing me that the work on the car would
be completed in a short while. The team in Bhagat Ford did the star turn today.
A complete overhaul of the Champion was done and she was ready now to take on
the toughest road conditions. I felt extremely grateful to Gopeshwar Sharma,
TrilokDhumka, Rajesh and their 'ever smiling' crew for the excellent turnout of
the car. I considered their work a commitment of RakshaBandhan to a Ford
brethren, it being the auspicious day of the same. Gopeshwar and Trilok affixed
sticker on Uttarakhand before I paid the bills, including the towage, and left
for the hotel. 
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