I though the Himalayas were formed from the Indian subcontinent slamming into the Eurasian land mass?
India being pulled away from Africa/Madagascar and eventually beneath the Eurasian continental crust is all related to the closing of the Tethys. ...This is a lot easier to explain with pictures...
If it helps, remember that continents are just lighter and thicker "rafts" of stuff. They're not plates themselves. They're often attached to oceanic crust as part of a plate. When one side of that oceanic crust becomes cold and thick enough to start to subduct, the entire plate gets pulled along.