mY fOuRtH RaFTiNg tRiP !!!

I had been thinking of the rafting trip for a while.. in this season.. and the credit to give some fire to this thought goes to my tusaar bhai... and we made a plan quickly...

i talked to a few ppl in the office.. and the idea was nicely welcomed with a few people really keen to join the trip.. so everything was set after long discussions on when to go, how to go, where to stay and all that... we finally decided to hire a cab (with a VCD player) and leave delhi on saturday night... well.. late night..

had already talked to an operator called Pradeep in rishikesh who had made the arrangements there for the rafting from Marine Drive to Rishikesh.. i had been on three trips so far all of them from Shivpuri to Rishikesh.. i had heard that there are few nice rapids between Marine Drive and Shivpuri and this thought excited me enough to plan for the rafting to start from Marine Drive...

so.. instead of the scheduled 2230 hours.... i was picked up at 2300 hours.. and then after picking up Pooja and Renu from Pooja's place we moved ahead to Rishikesh... a few people in the group had never been to Rishikesh so that excitement was obvious.. we also saw Ring on the LCD screen.. and also a few scenes from Munna Bhai... while the rear seat fellows were cribbing about no one talking, the volume being too high.. and so on...

we managed to a reach Haridwar very early around 0400 hours.. and while a good percentage of people wanted to sleep and not come out of the cab into the cold breeze outside.. i was very keen to just get out of there.. and walk around.. so i did.. and the rest of them followed... @ 0400 Har Ki Paudi wears a different look.. there still were a lot of people around.. the water flow to that part was reduced for some cleaning and so on... we roamed around the place for about 30 minutes before moving on towards Rishikesh...

0500 hours.. rishikesh... cold breeze... sleepy people... what was the best that could have happened... :) a toyota qualis parked near Laxman Jhoola.. and the passengers sleeping inside... we slept till 0600 and then i got bored.. and i got out of the car... and after sometime.. managed to get the rest of the gang out too...

the cold air was too much to handle in the morning...

we decided to park the car near Ram Jhoola for the rest of the day.. and kill time there itself till the operator comes in.. and we can start rafting...

in the parking lot at Ram Jhula

a small walk from the parking lot to the banks of the Ganga...

on the other side of the Ram Jhula... you can see it in the background..

and a good hour or so spent there. in the company of some great weather... beautiful breeze.. early morning warm sun...and loads of fun...

they were trying to climb up this rock.. got all wet.. and it was loads of fun...

we went to the operator around 0930 hours where we found out that Amiad who was from Israel was also joining us... and reached Marine Drive in another 45 minutes.. and were kinda stunned looking at the amount of people there... when we reached.. there were atleast 15 rafts... multiply the number by 8 and this many people were there on the banks...

so we waited till we could start rafting.. and there we go.. around 1200 hours... reeeeeeealy cold water... and a new part of the river.. another exciting trip starts here... i was happy...

all set for rafting...top row: sunoj, tushar, me, renu, Amiad... sitting: shubhika, pooja, aditya

lots of rapids were on the way.. good morning, three blind mice, roller coster, return to centre, golf course, peacock, hilton etc.... can't remember all the names right now..

we took two breaks actually three in this part of our journey.. one at shivpuri.. which was a quick breather.. then near Brahmpuri.. for lunch... and then near the jumping point...

While having lunch.. Tushar started talking to Amiad about Hinduism and the way of living.. that convo was too much for me to be a part of, on a rafting trip.. so i decided i wanted to get into the water.. keep myself wet so that i can jump in again...

all wet... just out of the raft...

after having lunch... just sun bathing ;)

i also tried to make a sand castle... tushar was kind enough to help me with a design which got washed off as soon as it was made.. and i managed to have a castle which looked more like a birthday cake with walls around it... and it got washed off too...

Pooja lost one of the slippers here.. and she had to be without them till we reached our cab... and renu was thrown into water twice by yours truly... why.. well she was trying to throw me in.. and i just took some watery... friendly revenge...

cut to the jumping point.. pooja was the first one to climb up.. and the last one to jump :)
i went up.. and was shit scared as soon as reached there... but then.. i jumped again... i know how tough it was the last time i had taken this plunge.. and this was it was equally scary.. but what the heck.. did it....

Amiad jumping from the cliff... and he knew exactly what he was doing...

aditya.. who is a champion swimmer... took a dive perfectly... 10 on 10.. and amiad.. was more then happy to jump the way he wanted into water... pooja jumped twice.. coz the first time her foto could not be clicked... shubhika and renu.. kept gathering some guts to jump. but could not do it... and tushar.. handled the camera during the entire episode...

another awesome experience coming to an end.. and then something which i will never forget happened.... while we were reaching Laxman Jhoola... there was this motorboat which was coming straight towards our raft... we saw it a good 100 metres in advance.. and were expecting the guy to turn it so that it passes by and not hit us.. but that son of a gun kept coming straight.. and we had a head-on with the motor boat when it was at atleast at 40 kmph....

the last that i remember was that the boat was a foot away from me.. and then i was in water... i also remember trying to come out of the water.. and someone pushing me down.... however i finally managed to have my head over water.. and what i saw was not too pleasent.. the motorboat was on the raft and was tilted dangerously while the people in that boat were only trying to get away from the raft and move out of there... everyone who was in the raft was out in the water but had managed to hold on the life-line... and stay close to the raft... i was the one who was the farthest from the raft.. as i had held on to my pedal.. and also had seen two more of them and grabbed them... so none of my hands were free.. and i could not swim.. i could just wait for the guys to come to me and pick me up from water... it was kinda scary.. but i was fine coz i knew that i am not going to drown... i was only afraid thinking that what if they are not able to pick me up before the next rapid... that is when i would have to just leave the pedals and swim my way out of the river somehow...

well that did not happen... i was pulled up well in time... and now the next rapid which was called hilton did not look like a challange to us at all.. we had experience something worse then that...
finally the raft touched our destination.... and we got out.. thanked Sunny who was our guide for the day for being so nice to us, and making the trip exiciting as it was... and moved on towads our cab...
changed clothes.. got fresh.. and moved on towards home... took a small break at the moolchand resorts around 4 kms from the start of the Muzzafarnagar bypass.. and 10 kms from Khatauli... nice food... and had a nice paan there...

was back home at 1230 hours... approx. 26 hours after i left home...

one hell of a trip coming to an end... and me already waiting for the time when i will go back to Marine Drive again.. no.. not marine drive.. i will start from Shivpuri only.. that makes more sense....


a few things to keep in mind when you go to rishikesh for rafting...

• its cheaper when you arrange for ur rafting after u reach there.. there are loads of operators who would be more then happy to take care of you there...
• always wear something that dries out fast while you are rafting.. otherwise you might just keep shivering...
• late march looks like the best time to raft as far as i am concerned... the water level was high when i went in june and this time.. and the rapids were not as exciting... however roller coster was one hell of a rapid...
• carry a camera... there is so much to look at there.. and capture in a cam...
• do try to make a sand castle.. i am going to do that the next time i go... i am sure i will make something better then was i made this time..
• have a pain killer, some bandage, and a couple of band-aids with you... you never know when you need it...
• carry some good sun screen lotion.. and use it properly before you start rafting...

enough... now get to the link.. and check out the fotos taken with Tushar's cam...

enjoy... will upload the fotos i took from my camera sooon....