Journeys: Valli and the cycling couple

Valli's two journeys. Going to town, eight-year-old Valli sees a canal, green fields, palm trees, mountains, a blue sky, and a young cow running in front of the bus; she laughs till she cries. Coming back, she sees the same cow lying dead by the road, and her joy is gone. Laughing one minute, gone the next: it is her first meeting with death. Think of a journey of your own you remember, and write about it so you can live it again.

A couple who began late. Vishav Driman and her husband Kamal Jeet took up cycling in their sixties, the age when most people slow down. That is why the passage speaks of their 'golden years': the years after retiring from work.

Why the hills did not worry them. Mountain riding is strenuous (very tiring), and cold heights can make people ill. But the couple had lived in Dehradun all their lives. They were acclimatised: used to the cold winds and the winding roads, and they knew the trails.

From short rides to big ones. Short rides grew into long ones, then into cyclothons and other cycling events, with family and friends cheering them on. (The book prints 'cyclotrons', a misprint: a cyclotron is a machine in a physics lab.) The author says cycling is the most thrilling way to discover Uttarakhand: sunlight through the trees, cool breeze, sal forests.

Their favourite ride. About 100 km, from Ghanta Ghar up to George Everest point, through Kimadi, Hathi Paon and Mussoorie: steep slopes, sharp curves, endless hills, thick forests and rough off-road stretches. Words to know: daunting (frightening), picturesque (pretty as a picture), venture (a risky new start).