Trip to Nainital, Mussoorie and Jim Corbett National Park with Kesari Tours :- Day 10

28th May 2009 :- Waking up at 2 am and readying oneself so as to depart at 3 am was a challenge. It was almost 4 am by the time we left our bus after the short ride to the outskirts by jeep. It was a quick trip down the ghats from Nainital. Most passengers slept well but I could not manage a nap. The first halt was at around 8:30 am for breakfast, by which time we were in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The constant intake of supposedly sumptuous food, had upset my stomach and I was struck by an upset stomach. This had happened to many a traveller on this trip but fortunately I was hit on the last day. There was a delay at one point where the highway was blocked due to an incident involving shots being fired. This was UP and such incidents are very much expected. The driver then took us on dirt roads that were being constructed, along dry river beds which at points was so narrow that a single bus could go through. The drivers however managed to get cross traffic along these rudimentary roads.

We reached the restaurant at Delhi at lunch time. The change in temperature reminded us this was peak summer which we had not experienced in the cooler precints of Mussoorie and Nainital. I was in no mood for lunch and only managed to sip a drink. The bus dropped us at the domestic airport at Delhi. Our return flight was at 7:15 pm and it was just about 3:30 pm at the time we reached the airport. To our dismay, a short while later we came to know the flight was delayed by an hour. Prior to getting past security, we noticed Ishant Sharma checking in at Jet Airways counter. He was supposedly travelling to Mumbai to join the team leaving for England for the ICC 20-20 World Cup event.

I sat still at a place watching cricket on a big screen television. Nihar and Varsha entertained themselves at a chidrens play area inside the airport terminal. Further delays followed and the plane finally took off at about 10:15 pm. It was in the early hours of the next day that we reached Pune and almost 2 am in the morning that we reached home.