We got up at a reasonable hour and headed down from the house to the school gate to get a taxi to take us to the top of the hill in Landour. Usually Howard and Jill walk up for church, but they spared us and got a taxi to take us up. Before church we walked around the top of the hill and got another view of the Himalayas, even less clouds than the day before.
We had a pleasant walk around the top of the hill where we met Howard who had walked up. After church I went off with Hayden to meet some of his friends and try and provide some insight into APS Grad programs. All the way down the hill to the bazaar he kept asking if he could introduce me as Govinda on an ashram to Amritsar. We got to the Tavern, but it wasn’t yet open for lunch so we headed off further into the bazaar to find momos. Which ended up being dumplings, no dissimilar to dumplings we have in Australia.
After a 2nd round of fried momos we headed back to the pub to meet up with everyone. I dutifully removed my cap before going inside and Hayden introduced me as Govinda to one of his friends. He shook my hand, looked at me and was rather confused – Of course that is his name, why wouldn’t it be? He is wearing a thing on his head, and looks like he hasn’t shaved in a couple of weeks.
Hayden found this hilarious and then explained my name was Tim and I was a friend from Australia. Lunch was good. Lamb, and I mean lamb, wait, no now I think about it, it was mutton, but it was good mutton rogan josh. Peanut masala, good naan and a few other things. As new people arrived Hayden took great pleasure in introducing me as Govinda. After lunch we got a taxi back up to Woodstock, with a brief stop at Clock Tower for a fitting for my suits, but they weren’t ready yet.
In the evening we went outside to see the sunset, and the lights of Dehradun, there were no clouds for the first time and it was really clear down the valley.
