“Ahem,” I ventured, “Do you know where we can get information about skiing courses?”

“Yes, yes” came the brusque reply. Followed by an awkward silence. “Well, what do you want to know?”

“Prices, dates, courses on offer, that sort of thing” we responded, stating the obvious.

She sighed and rose slowly to her feet. Searching through her bunch of keys, she found the right one and unlocked a cupboard.

“Here, the brochure” she said as she passed a leaflet in our direction.

Clearly valuable information this, if it needs to be locked away, we thought to ourselves.

“10 rupees” she barked.

Ah, so it is valuable information. We had a quick look through & saw that there wasn’t really anything for us. Well, perhaps we’d already come to that conclusion.

We did want to buy a map though, and to do so we were directed to a different office. An old man sat hunched outside. We told him what we wanted and he headed off to find the appropriate official.

“Which map do you want?”

We didn’t know. We had hoped to browse through their range & make a selection. We were directed impatiently back to the lobby where the maps were displayed on the wall. Having made our choice, we eventually succeeded in purchasing it (dealing with two or three more members of staff in the process). We left, map in hand, bemused by the number of different offices & individuals we had dealt with to accomplish a simple task.

The Mountaineering Institute clearly wasn’t the ski school for us, so we decided to try Himalayan Journeys, which had been recommended to us by a local. We headed into the adjoining German Bakery, ordered a chai, and struck up a conversation with our waiter. Overseeing operations in the café turned out to be just one of Himanshu’s many activities. His father had established Himalayan Journeys in the 1970s, and Himanshu now worked (more than) full time organising adventure activities of many kinds, instructing skiers, snowboarders and rock-climbers, liaising with European and American adventure travel agencies, coaching the local downhill skiing team and chatting to people in the café. The company also offers the usual travel agency services, Internet and long distance phone calls. These guys know the meaning of cross selling, to be sure, but they also know how to build relationships with their clients. We spent three great days in Solang Nullah with Himanshu learning to ski.

India is a country of many contradictions. Just as the Mountaineering Institute manifested the inefficiency and petty bureaucracy endemic throughout the country’s institutions, so Himalayan Journeys represents the dynamic, entrepreneurial spirit that has contributed to the success of the largest middle class in the world.