Bird's eye view: The morning dawned dim, but the day was anything but. Till date, this drive of Almora to Ranikhet was perhaps the most beautiful one. It was not a long distance, perhaps 55 km, but I really did not feel like driving fast. We left at 8.45 am and reached at 12.45 pm, with a Kosi river crossing and a mystery stop in between. The weather remained cloudy and cool, the perfect climate to wander around the countryside. We were dropping 600 ft below Mukteswar, so the weather became a little warmer. Leaving Almora (8.45 am): Like other days in the recent past, we had decided that we will leave after breakfast. Panna, in particular, was particularly enamoured of the alu paratha, so an early departure was out of the question. We peered out at a gloomy sky. Did it look like rain? Not really. We did not mind a little gloom in the hills; it gave the feeling that a couple of murders may have happened in this ancient KMVN heap, particularly in their super-delux-luxury suite, and ...