Dehra Dun -The Landing

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originally uploaded by mani tours.

Dehra Dun -The Landing
My hard disk drive is showing its true colours so had to import a photo from my Flickr Album. So after a loong flight of 30 mins we landed in Dehra Dun. I was red faced with shame. Some experience I was gifting my MIL , wasn't I ? There was no proper Airport In Dehra Dun , rather it was an Air field. We disembarked and started looking for something to drive us into the main city. the Air field is in a pretty desolate place. Hardly any shops. few vehicles. only some Taxis were standing nearby. They were asking for exorbitant rate to drop us in the city. We were shocked. They simply refused to take part in our bargaining. And you can't bargain alone so we were left alone stupidly looking for some other solution when suddenly we saw an Auto rickshaw and after a little haggling we hopped into it. Our first stop was in Sahashtradhara, A beautiful place fed by numerous springs- hence the name. We had our brunch over there. washed ouselves in the cool pure water of the springs. splashed around, clicked snaps(you have already sen them in my previous post). Shashtradhara is the famous spot in Dehra dun. After spending considerable time there we decided to proceed to Tapkeshwar Mandir. An underground temple where at a particular spot, there is a natural ...should I say stream of water or drops of water bathe a Shivling.Hey Rest in next post okay? I have to rush for my duty

Dehra Dun- The story begins

Here I am back again with my story of that memorable trip to Dehra Dun - a much planned gift for my ma in law- but you see , mani and plans don't go together.

OK lets begin by introducing the above snaps to you- the first one - of yours truly in Sahashtra dhara in dehra dun...what? you are expecting some info from me. Come on guys you know the Internet inside out, you dissect blogs and do all your emotional and financial transaction in the net and you are staring expectantly from me for more info on its latitude and longitude, seasons and shopping areas.Hey I am just narrating my experiences here .Am a hopeless travel guide. but OK I will give my version of some tips but at the end of this narration , I mean the end of this story which can span quite a number of posts.

The second snap - Of my ma in law and shaleen -See their smiles- it took one day and a trip to wipe it off.

Third is of Sahastradhara and the fourth of the nearby hills of Mussourie- just around 30 kms away.

So how did it happen- Oh yeah that I can narrate of course. You see, ours was an interstate and inter caste marriage which had disappointed quite a many people so as soon as I settled in the new house I set about smoothing away the ruffled feathers. I had come to know that flying was one of my ma in law's dream , not the bird like you silly, but flying as in aeroplane. So I decided to gift her a flight trip as her birthday gift. Now it isn't so that I am stingy but belonging to a middle class [family in India puts you under some financial constraint, so I decided on something economical and feasible. So I settled for Delhi to Dehradun. Go by flight, come back by train shatabdi with an over night stay. I made all the necessary arrangements by net but had to slightly change our itinerary due to non availability of leaves and settled for a day trip instead. This point is important for the story - remember!

So on 21st of September , yes that's the day! We arrived happily in the Airport, but the moment our eyes set upon the aircraft my husband glared at me. It was not some Boeing or large aircraft , not even the standard ones , but a small light aircraft- Fokker ? I don't know exactly.I felt embarrassed but My ma in law didn't seem to notice and was looked completely excited. So we embarked on a quite eventful trip and the rest ... I will continue in the next post. I promise I will be back soon.