Prelude : Like morning-walkers on grassy fields, we, that is my wife and I, are regularly bitten by the bug. Self-driving in our trusty Tata Punch AMT , we chalk out a plan that would keep us away from our cosy home in Kolkata for at least a month. This time, my eyes fell on Uttarakhand, the lap of the Himalayas. Google threw up more than 20 places worthy of attention in that region, and given the fact that we were unlikely to drive there time and again, we decided to cover as much as we could, barring places we have already been to. Also given the fact that I was not willing to drive more than half a day in hot weather (have some heart for the poor car), it would take us 4 days to reach the foothills, clocking up our total tour to 41 days. That’s quite a stretch. The pic below is a close up of the places we plan to visit ex-Lucknow, which is the entry and exit point. Leaving Kolkata (6.45 am): Our car was loaded up the previous evening. A road trip like this pushes up...