Exploring Rishikesh

Ever since the beginning of this year ive become increasingly taken in by the idea of exploring delhi. As April 09 gets closer, i get ever more paranoid that i need to see more of delhi and its surroundings before i get forced out of this place [god forbid!]

So keeping that in mind, I did not miss the first opportunity to go out exploring. Last week, I'd gone on a rafting trip to Rishikesh with 3 friends from work. We had a wicked time.

We drove up to Rishikesh from Delhi in a Maruti Baleno. Its a good ride except for low ground clearance, which gives the owner of the car heart attacks everytime the undercarriage hits a speed breaker!

We had a stopover at Haridwar to take a dip in the Holy Ganges. Now that was a sight!! People....thousands of them - men, women and children, old and young, formed and deformed, from all over India, just for one dip in the holy ganges. And where there is people there is business. Hawkers selling everything from jewellery to plastic bottles to take home some holy water.

There was also a lady going around with a king cobra in one of those flat bamboo baskets. The deal was she would open the basket and the bored Cobra wud raise its head 5 cms and you wud pay the lady some money. [I dont know if the Cobra was meant to be an obeisance to the 30m statue of Lord Shiva across the river or plain daylight robbery, but either way ur screwed as most of us people tend to leave their wallets in their cars!] So if you dont have money to pay the lady and her cobra, u better hope she doesnt come to you, being clad in just a towel and looking lost helps in ensuring she doesnt show interest in you! There is also another chap who goes around with a python that u can wrap around ur neck and pose in. Yes there is a photographer who duly tails both cobra lady and python man. Now I know im clad only in a towel, but even if Madhu Sapre were to pose along, I wudnt be wrapping a python around me.

But I must say the above two meetings happened in a space of 2 minutes. I can tell you I never missed my baby sister so much in my life before!! She wud have swam across the GANGES to avoid that situation... never mind the fast flowing polluted water nor the 200m against the current swim nor the fact that she doesnt know swimming :-))

Im not much of a water person. I always new it and I got reaffirmation the moment I took my first dip in the Ganges. The water was colder than normal but sheer panic seized me. My foot were on the steps of banks. I was holding on the iron chains that fence the dipping enclosure. But in that one moment, it was abundantly clear to me the task that I had undertaken. River rafting was going to be one heck of an experience for me.


We got to our destination well stocked. [Pls note that Rishikesh and Haridwar are bascially dry areas where even getting non-vegetarian food is a tough ask].

We were staying at a camp called Paddler's Zone. It was a good camp, compared to the experiences of friends who had been earlier to other camps down the river.

This place we were camping at was on the banks of the river Bhagirathi. We had our share of fun, beach volleyball, drinks around the bonfire, country chicken on the beach [now if they didnt ban non veg around there, we wudve probably been having broiler chicken!]. Its a really special feeling sitting on the rocks with ur feet in the water and feeling the awesomeness of nature around you!

Next day morning after a very competitive game of beach volleyball, we headed for our rafting trip. You need to have a lot of patience to live life in the mountains. If you do not have patience, then u will be taught patience! My reference is to the infamous traffic jams here. Most of the time vehicles move in convoys on narrow roads, susceptible to landslides. So a lot of times, we wud be stuck in a jam waiting endlessly for a convoy to pass and once the first vehicle appears, it wud be an endless convoy of various assorted vehicles that pass you by. When we were around, the marriage season it seems had started and we encountered quite a few convoys of marriage parties along the way. All in all, a 10 km ride ends up taking 1.5 hours to traverse!

We arrived at our start point, kitted up and took the mandatory pics as we awaited our turn. There was a huge NDTV contingent on an OBT that was getting its briefing ahead of us. Kit basically is life raft, helmet and an oar. The 4 of us got on board. We had another family for company including a 2 yr old girl. Pretty brave i must say.

I was apprehensive at first, praying that our raft wouldnt topple over. When we went over the first rapids I was a bit overwhelmed, it was the smallest of all the rapids but yet when the first water splashed on my face, it took my breath away. The next rapid was a blur...more than the rapid i was trying to focus on rowing in tandem with the rower in front of me. Just focussing on it, took me away from my fears.Two more rapids went that way. Then my friends jumped into the water as we were going through a quiet stretch. I, needless to say, stuck to the safety of the raft.

Then something happened. I started looking at the waves and how they were behaving. 80% of the waves didnt splash up water.Only the remaining 20% did and these were the waves that could topple the raft if we didnt row together at the moment of contact. The physics was simple if the raft had prolonged contact against a wave for more than 2-3 secs it wud topple over. Thus when we were against such a wave it was critical that we were over the wave before the momentum goes against us. Once I figured this out, I realised the entire rafting experience was just an exercise in conquering our demons as it was a pretty safe proposition otherwise. The most critical person on board the raft is the guide who guides the raft through the currents and away from whirlpools. Otherwise the passengers are required only to row against the big waves.

The next time we were against a quiet stretch, I was game to get into the waters. For the life of me, I cannot explain the panic that seized me when i got into the waters. I momentarily went under the surface and came up gasping for breath. The water was 70 ft deep and I had no confidence in my ability to stay afloat. I grabbed for my friend's hand and with the other held on to the raft. My feet were going upwards and were against the bottom of the raft. My head was moving backwards. All the water around me caused me great anxiety. I didnt realise that I was floating!

Then in about a minutes time, I begun to gain a semblence of control and started to think. I tried to kick my legs and paddle. It helpled me stay afloat and in control. Then I tried to move around, paddling my feet behind me. It gave me control over the direction I wanted to move in. Finally I was comfortable. No more anxiety! I knew there were no sharks in the Ganges there!... Wonder what I wud do if there were sharks around in the waters I swim...Well thats another adventure another day!!

The remaining of the trip brought us against the toughest rapids but it never was a problem. As I said, river rafting seemed to be about conquering my own demons!!

One of the times when we enjoy life is when we are not afraid to get lost. Thats when u discover new routes, more beautiful, more lonely, more adventurous and stretch your self to the limits as you are not afraid of the consequences if something goes wrong! Thats kind of like what happened to us, losing our way 3 times but ended up having quite a great ride back to Delhi anyways.

PS - If u ever pass by Rorkee stop by to have this badam milk in this Sardar's shop in Civil Lines near Century Gate. The best badam milk which u will have in India!! :-)
Thanks Brij, Radhe and Anurag! It was a blast!