Since I must begin this narrative somewhere, I will start in no particular order, with this wonderful road trip from Leh to Lukong, a 140 km journey, where Pangong Lake is situated. And I write about this trip only because I am sitting inside a tent in Lukong, in freezing cold, with a light drizzle, and heavy winds, and the memory of the journey fresh in my mind. I have nothing better to do, dinner being a good hour away, and my partner in crime lying next to me nursing a slight altitude sickness. And while I write about this trip, let me leave the lake itself for later and instead talk about nature, and the mountains we encountered on our way here. To me, Himalayas was mostly about those trips to Nainital, Almora, Dharamsala, McLeodgunj, Dalhousie, Darjeeling, and a dozen other hill towns nestled in the mountains. Places where hardy men and brave soldiers took on nature to live a life, or protect a land. It was about long scary yet scenic drives, where I had a prayer on my l...