After repeatedly trying to group together a bare minimum of 4 people for the rafting trip, just the three of us had confirmed and were available: Charles, Premjit and me. Post-exams all birds had flown away and we had difficulty regrouping the rest. We delayed the plan by yet another day and started it all over again, afresh. This time we got support from Jai Bhagwan, of South Campus ‘Rock climbing’ fame. Then out of nowhere Kutti Chaathaan a.k.a Shashi Kumar from IIFT (actually a full-timer from FMS and part-timer from IIFT!) appeared and declared that he would be able to take 2 days off from his ‘busy work schedule’. Just when we thought that the requisite 5 members quota had been filled, three more people were enthused and jumped into the fray, nearly choking the travel group: Pondi, Poddar and Kanix.
Early morning at 4 am on the 8th of April the 8 of us from the newly formed FMS adventure club started out on yet another trip, hoping against hope that it would be scandal-free and peaceful unlike the other ‘pioneering’ ones! To make a good beginning, we started with a ‘mandir darshan’, but it was out-of-context for the ‘drunken monks’ who had revelry the earlier night as they had planned to ‘fly’ the 5 hour journey. So, they began to desecrate the purpose of the visit and we had to rush it up and leave the place soon so as to not inflame the Gods!
Pit Stop
Pit stop 1 happened at about 7am on the way when we stopped for tea. After a quick ‘chai’ we were loitering around the dhabha when Charles moved away from the gang. Just then he was attacked by a set of monkeys who sexually assaulted him! Realizing that he could be ‘mistaken’ again, he immediately rejoined the group; I mean our ‘human group’. Thanks to the pestering Qualis driver, we were loaded onto the vehicle in a jiffy. We were back on our way.
(Charles inspite of being assaulted! , Jai, Premjit, me and Kanix)
After confirming plans with the operator we freshened up and had breakfast. In hindsight it appears that we are destined for pathetic food at exorbitant prices whenever we travel. Accepting that, we ordered, paid and left hungry. Meanwhile Shashi and Charles couldn’t suppress their urge to buy ‘grass’ in Rishikesh. This was something they had been fantasizing throughout the journey. Finding a ‘yogi’ (that’s what they called ‘him’, but the guy was actually a beggar by the roadside, sitting with a bowl and smoking stuff!) they negotiated to buy the ‘leaves’. They prided themselves in striking a good bargain, 10 bucks for a pack full of ‘grass’! They didn’t have time or rather we didn’t permit them to try it out then, so it had to wait till the night. More about the ‘leaves’ later.
Waterfall Trek
The first activity of the day was ‘Waterfall Trek’. What appeared to be a simple 2 km trek to the site of some small waterfall, kept getting extended every other 5 minutes. When half of the gang had almost given up, we kept prodding them with promises of ‘Almost there’ and ‘Great Waterfall Ahead’! Finally, after what could be 5-6 km of arduous trek, we reached the place. What a pristine beauty it was.. everyone had to agree that it was really worth the effort. One of the many branches of the Ganges had traversed along the high mountain and it dropped down from a great height. The fall was broken at a couple of places along its journey. The place we reached had a small 7ft deep pond formed by the force of the water, over time. Water from the pond trickled down in its journey to finally reach the main course of the river as a small stream. At such a height, the waterfall pond was less frequented and the water was crystal clear and real tasty.
All those who had plans of just sitting by the waterfall, promptly dropped the idea and jumped into the pond. It was a good half-hour of splashing in the pond and bathing in the waterfall, to the heart’s content. Just as I was getting dressed, 5 of the members escorted by the guide left the place to start climbing down. I was left with Charles and Shashi. Charles suddenly had this sudden idea of climbing further up to reach the pinnacle and locate the origin of the waterfall. Half-heartedly both of us started on our way to what appeared a quick climb. However, we later found out that the path up was long and winding and we had to give up the idea for later. By then the guide had come back in search of us! So, we clambered down and just as we were leaving, couple of foreigners reached the place. With a heavy heart, and dragged by the guide, we had to abandon the beauty of the waterfall!
River Rafting
It was 3 pm and we had to start rafting in half an hour. But we were all over-exerted by the extended trek. As we were waiting for the Qualis to bring the raft and equipments, we feasted on a bout of Maggi at a roadside place. By this time the car had arrived and we traveled to the base camp. We were supposed to cover a 22 km stretch by rafting from a place called Marine Drive. We were told that this stretch had the most rapids, about 12 of them. We got a raft for just the 8 of us. With two guides to escort us, we strapped on the lifejacket, helmets and got ready for the adventure. The captain (as he liked to be referred to!) briefed us on the dos and don’ts. People listened with rapt attention and those who were confident that they couldn’t swim (there were many) paid double the attention! Then we got ourselves an oar each and got ready for the journey. The captain ended the intro with a ‘Welcome to White Water Rafting in the Ganges’!
(Me, Charles, Jai and Pondi in a raft, before getting the gear on)
We were introduced to the nitty-gritty’s with some practical maneuverings like forward/ reverse rowing and so on. Basically we had to get acquainted with the commands and had to learn to respond immediately. Six of us took rowing positions with three people on each side of the raft. Kanix was assigned the role of ‘High-sider’ (one who stoops forward to balance the raft and makes sure that the water hits his face before it touches the raft!) It’s another thing that I had also thought of spicing up the rafting trip sometime by getting one person into the water. If I had to ever do that, then it had to be the High-sider coz, with one gentle effortless and innocent push, he would gracefully dive into the water! Meanwhile, Poddar was left with nothing to do but play the role of ‘water boy’ for the first stretch of the journey. After learning that four of us were from Tamil Nadu, the captain surprised all of us by issuing commands in his newly-learnt broken Tamil! He had apparently learnt it from some previous participants.
After the honeymoon period, we got close to our first rapid called ‘Black Money’. In the rapids, the river water rushes forth and there are lots of swirls and twists that rock your boat and push you awkwardly. The first rapid was a good mild experience. Then after a couple of small rapids, we hit the next one which was called the ‘Three Blind Mice’ – a stretch of three continuous rapids. This one was challenging and rocked the boat like crazy. Just after hitting the rapid, I lost balance and fell into the middle of the boat while others continued rowing. With great difficulty I found balance and got back into my position, which was the second one on the left side. By now the water had drenched all of us in the raft. After a pretty violent gap, we crossed the rapid and there was loud cheer. Captain was happy with our performance and we prided ourselves on performing extremely well. We were of the impression that the worst was over. Just as if to sink in the feeling the next 4/5 rapids were very tame.
Now we did a change of roles and position. Kanix stayed as the high-sider (still my target!), Poddar started rowing and I moved to the first position on the left side and Charles moved back. My counterpart on the right was Jai. The persons in the first position on both sides were the first to be hit by the waves and they had the dreaded distinction of moving beneath the wave and observing its full height engulf the raft. If anyone from the raft had to fall into the current, they stood a very good chance. These thoughts coming to me in the middle of the rapids scared me. Just then the captain cautioned us saying that we were approaching an International rapid which was called ‘Golf Course’. He injected fear into us by asking his co-guide to check and be doubly sure whether our jackets and helmets were strapped tightly.
With brave screams we entered the rapid! It was like no other rapid we had faced. In the rapid we could see the picture of sea boiling and shooting columns of water in all directions in an earnest attempt to overturn the raft. The waves were so huge and tall that it looked out of place in a river. The raft rocked wildly and it appeared that no amount of rowing could have any little effect on the raft’s course. To add to the effect, the rapid was noisy as hell and we could barely hear the person sitting next to us. I thought I heard the captain shout ‘Hold’ and I immediately clung to the life-rope which went around the raft or whatever it was called, holding on for dear life! After a couple of seconds of holding and not rowing I wondered what to do next. I immediately glanced sideways. Kanix was in his position stooping forward with his head into the current. Next to him Jai was holding tight to the rope and was sitting inside. It was then that I thought that I had missed hearing the command ‘Hold and Sit in’. To confirm I turned back and glanced at Premjit who was very religiously in a similar pose holding on as tight as he could. Fearing disobeying of orders and also drawing solace from the comfort of the pose, I promptly moved in and sat tight. Now the raft started rocking wildly like never before. I was almost certain that we all would be toppled into the current and I was getting ready to do whatever once I get into the water. Then I heard the captain shout ‘Fast forward’ meaning to row forward. Immediately I heard all of us including me shouting the command back repeatedly, while staying in the same position! I forced myself to try and row a bit by slightly moving out. But inspite of repeated attempts I could barely put the oar in the water as half of the time I was rowing in empty air. Such was the case with almost all of us as we were all temporarily in a state of shock. Somehow the raft managed to course out of the rapid, in shape. Now the captain had had enough and he jumped up from his position and began castigating all of us severely. We were at a loss for words and just listened to the feedback. He narrated of an earlier trip of his when the whole raft was overturned in the same rapid and that he managed to finally save everyone and get them on board again. This was a great learning for the entire group and we reflected on our performance. To show that we had really learnt the ropes, we managed a much better show in the next couple of rapids which were equally violent.
It was close to 7pm and we had rafted for about 2.5 hours. The captain finally declared that we had covered all challenging rapids and only small ones were left. We again changed positions and roles and covered the remaining stretch in under half hour. We finally ended the rafting trip by slowing down by the Neem Beach and then carried the raft ashore. It was a great memorable experience of a life time. After rafting, there was a miscommunication and the associated confusion kept us waiting by the banks of the Ganges for more than an hour in wet clothes before we could get our vehicle to travel 26 km back to the base camp where we had to camp for the night.
Camping
We finally reached base camp at 9 pm, in time for dinner. As it was already dark, we couldn’t explore the place, so we kept that for the next day morning. After a heavy dinner, we had a bonfire and sat around it and chatted into the night, sipping ‘chai’. Now, the ‘smoker-gang’ had run out of supplies and by the riverside they had no option of procuring ‘sutta’. It was then that Charles and Shashi remembered about the ‘grass’ they had bought in the morning. They prided themselves on their ingenuity of getting and storing it probably foreseeing this emergency situation… something like a visionary! So, the ‘smoker-gang’ sat around the bundle of ‘grass’ and rolled it, while we were watching them with curiosity. Even before tasting it, they were getting virtual highs. Thanking the beggar, they finally lighted it and took it in turns. There was a bewildered expression in their face. It was then that the gang revealed that they had been duped.. They had been sold ‘TEA LEAVES’ in the name of ‘GRASS’!! Indeed, they had struck a good deal by paying 10 bucks for a roll of dry gathered ‘tea leaves’!
Meanwhile we were sitting by the bonfire and chatting about the just-concluded college days. There were all kinds of grandiose plans being made about a reunion-cum-rafting trip in the Ganges some years down the line! Before I knew it I was sound asleep in the chair, very tired by the extra-exertion. I got up a little while later, dragged myself to the tent and hit the sacks immediately. It was bright in the morning when I got up and the others were out in the sand outside the tent. It was then that I saw the amazing view of the Ganges and the mountains from the camp. The weather was pleasant and it made the scenery even more appealing. The camp site was by the river bank and it was filled with an expanse of clean white sand. There were about 85 people in our site. We were told that there were a couple of similar camping sites along the course of the river. As we were there on a weekend, the camp was brimming with people and we had good company.
(Thats the river bank where we camped!!)
As we had done all the activity on day one, we were left with little to do in the camp on the second day. So, we decided to spend some time drinking in the beauty of the camp and then plan something else for the rest of the day. After a leisurely heavy good breakfast, all of us took a dip in the holy river and bathed for an hour observing the rafts passing by in the morning. We had a round of snaps and by 11.30 am we were packed and ready to leave.
(Meditating by the Ganges... Well some effect you see!)
After settling accounts with the tour operator, we were faced with the task of planning the rest of the day before we could return to Delhi. This planning turned out to be a real ordeal. We spent a couple of hours debating about the pros and cons of visiting certain places and skipping others. Unsatisfied with one round of debating, we moved to various places and continued it until we finally were left with lesser time. So, we ‘decided’ to spend some time in Dehradun and then pack up for Delhi. On the way back, we still had ample time before we could reach Delhi, at least so felt the ‘drunken monks’. So, they halted the car, much to the chagrin of the driver and had their last ‘daru party’ by the roadside on a heap of gravel and dirt. After an hour of drinking, they finally had to return to the vehicle as they were left with no money and no one wished to lend them some more in that state! During the last lap of the journey, they had a gala time and on their part, they did their best to piss of the grumbling driver! By 12.30 am we were back in the comfort of Delhi University, South Campus after winding up the last successful tour of the two years of MBA MS.
I would advise all the readers to definitely try their hand at least once at river rafting, if they haven’t done so already. It is real fun and a lifetime experience. It gives a crash course on team-work and on performing under pressure. All in all, it’s a GREAT adventure sport. With all the life saving gear, it isn’t that dangerous and no, you needn’t know swimming to do it. There are 3 or 4 places in India where you could do rafting. After you try your hand at it, do let me know :)
