Independence

The route up to Nainital.

We checked into the KMVN (Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam) guest house at Nainital. The whole of Uttaranchal is dotted with these government owned tourist guest houses. The charges are nominal, and the locations are phenomenal. You could plan your itinerary with these. If there’s a KMVN at a town, the town’s worth visiting.

Sandy Menon doing an MG Ramachandran imitation. Thalaivaa!!!!

We spent the evening boating on the lake in Nainital. The whole town is on the shores of this lake, called Talli Tal. Nainital itself is very commercialised and tacky, rather like Ooty down south.

Sandy and Prashi on a boat. What’s with the expressions, guys ? No wonder the boat owner started talking about honeymooning couples :-)

The town of Nainital at sunset, as seen from a boat on the Lake.