Born and brought up in Kalimpong, in a little thatched cottage between two rolling streams, Colonel Mani K. Gahatraj now returns to the same surreal charms of his boyhood days after a life time in the Army and the world around. He travels and treks regularly around his own backyard; across the Himalayan landscape of Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan. When at home, he can be found at the golf course; or in his cozy study, writing travel blogs, reading, playing the guitar and of course enjoying a good evening peg! Mani K Gahatraj, 68, joined the Army at the age of 17 and has traveled far and wide. It was in the army that he met with the Rhino, the symbol of the Assam Regiment, a battalion of which he later commanded. The Rhino's quality of being tough is what he still lives by, even after surviving an ambush in 1965 Indo Pak war as a green horn and a near-fatal grenade injury to his neck kissing the jugular vein in a close combat in 1971 Indo-Pak War. A life time of 37 years in the Army, followed by corporate stint and multi-state NGO work, have allowed him to traverse the length and breadth of India and South East Asia. Inspired by his father's sojourn in Tibet during the mid 1920s, he accepted an employment opportunity in war-torn Afghanistan and lived in Kabul for a year. Back to his roots, life has now comes full circle for the Colonel.