FROM THE HIMALAYAS TO THE BALTICS

A Diplomat's Journey of the Firsts

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Arriving in Dehradun, Uttarakhand on 01 February 2002 was as cold as landing in the night on 26 February 2025 in Riga, Latvia, when I arrived to take charge of my “firsts” in both places. The chill in February 2002 was within the ecosystem of the state government machinery of Uttarakhand (then called Uttaranchal), for whom an officer seconded from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of the Union Government was difficult to comprehend. The chill in Riga was brought by the winter winds from the WSW at 15 to 30 km/h, when the temperature felt like -4°C or -5°C. The chill in Riga at that point in time also matched the common perception of Baltic people as “cold and distant.”

But the initial chill soon turned into lifelong warm memories of valuable work experiences in both places.