CHAPTER: 4 My Interrupted Flight Toward The Himalayas "Leave your classroom on some trifling pretext, and engage a hackney carriage. Stop in the lane where no one in my house can see you." These were my final instructions to Amar Mitter, a high school friend who planned to accompany me to the Himalayas. We had chosen the following day for our flight. Precautions were necessary, as Ananta exercised a vigilant eye. He was determined to foil the plans of escape which he suspected were uppermost in my mind. The amulet, like a spiritual yeast, was silently at work within me.