Day 2 : Rush Endless
(rafting and camping at Rishikesh)
It was 7 AM and we woke up with a jolt when the bus finally
lurched into Haridwar bus stand. We had already spotted a bus departing for
Gangotri in the wee hours and I was in split mind to jump onto it. But, the MAMA
duo of Patade and Chembe had declared their intentions of getting back to
Pilani from Rishikesh itself after rafting and camping. So, I suppressed that
urge of getting onto the Gangotri bus and carried on with the rafting-camping
plan.
We immediately boarded the bus departing for Rishikesh
(another 17 kms from Haridwar) from the bus stand itself and reached there in
another 30 minutes or so. After getting down, we took an auto to the nearest Sulabh
toilet complex, completed our morning chores and got ready for the day ahead.
We had discussed and negotiated a decent rafting-camping
package with a local agency called Rush Endless before coming to Rishikesh. The
deal included a 26 km rafting in the Ganga, camping on the silver sand river
beach, waterfall rappelling, kayaking, and not to forget lunch-dinner-breakfast
and evening snacks with bonfire and beach volleyball being the additional perks
for a cost of 1500 Rs per person. We were quite happy with the package and the
price. [Later we also got that agency a lot of BITSian customers through
personal recommendations]. The rafting agent had asked us to meet at the
Lakshman Jhoola.
So we took another auto which dropped us at a detour in the
Rishikesh-Badrinath highway from where we followed a pathway to the bridge. It
took us a lot of time to finally walk down to the famous suspension bridge of
Lakshman jhoola. While waiting for the rafting agent, we whiled away our time
at a nearby German bakery savoring the various delicacies like croissants,
pastries, etc.
Finally, we met the agent who told us about an extra cost of
1000 Rs for booking a cab which would take us to the camp after we are done
with the rafting. [Incidentally, that point is famously called as Marine drive].
Though, we were appalled by this last minute cost addition, we weren’t in mood
to lose any more time over the arguments, it was already 10 AM, so we agreed to
it thereby adding another 166 Rs per head. We left our bags, mobile and other
valuables in the agency’s office and left in his SUV, with the raft safely
tucked overhead into the vehicle’s carrier.
The journey was alongside the Ganga, through the Shivalik
hugging serpentine road and in no time we reached marine drive. We were too
anxious for the adventure ahead and so we didn’t lose any time in wearing the
safety jacket and headgear and after receiving rafting instructions and a quick
list of Do’s and Don’ts, we boarded the raft for the 3-hour long 26 km journey
on the Ganga.
Rafting begins
The sitting arrangement for the 8-member raft was simple. I
and Vishal sat at the front with Kishan and Bharath in the middle and
Patade and Chembe in the 3rd row. The captain of the ship(who we
eventually realized was actually running the show and doing all the muscle
work) sat at the back with his aide.
All we had to do was together follow his simple instructions
of stop, start, front, back, etc but we managed to screw up quite often. We
were getting too delirious with the bumpy ride in the turbulent river, water
splashing on us, raft threatening to throw us off the board at every small and
big rapid and the towering mountains interspersed with forests and beaches on
both sides of the river. This coupled with our resolve to forget the ground
rules and not co-operate with the captain’s instruction would have made life
difficult for the poor fellow who was actually slogging around, slowing or
speeding up and balancing the raft in the tricky water of Ganga.
Eventually, we came around and got comfortable with the
sudden commotion that the rapid would bring or the calm that would come with a
gentle flowing stretch of river. We faced a lot of rapids of varying
grade(mostly I,II or III) with funny names like golf-course, black hole, picnic,
etc. And soon we overcame our fear and started enjoying the adventure.
Ordeal in the Ganges
During one of the rapids, Chembe got thrown out of the raft
and by the time we realized, he just disappeared. We were frantically looking
onto the side where he was sitting to spot where he fell, but he emerged from
the other side, going under the raft. We quickly pulled him on-board. But
amidst all this confusion, our raft got off-balance and we began heading
towards a rock protruding into the river. I had enough time to visualize
various ways in which this ship-wreck or rather the raft-wreck would happen
with me sitting in the front and so I ducked into the raft tightly holding the
safety ropes. But wreck never occurred because the light-weight raft simply got
pushed over the rock and started climbing headlong before finally sliding back
into the river behind. But this was enough for some of the poor souls sitting
at the back to get seriously panicky and Patade fell off the boat and into the
river. By the time we managed to get into the river, we realized that one of us
was missing and we started looking all around, finally spotting him floating
somewhere in the river. We got closed to him and pulled him in.
During another such rapid, Kishan and I fell into the river
and got strayed away. We were swept away by the turbulent grade IV rapid and
went on floating in the river (thanks to the life-saving jacket) for almost 10
minutes before the boat could locate us and pull us in. But the experience was
sufficiently mind-numbing and terrifying. We also stopped midway for
cliff-jumping and body surfing on a river bank, before proceeding ahead to
finish the journey. After reaching Rishikesh, we were taken back 30 kms
upstream along the Ganga in their cab for reaching the campsite. After getting
down the cab, we had to walk down a jungle path and cross a suspension bridge
that would take us down the silver sandy beach on the banks of Ganga.
Camping
It was a beautiful camp with a separate dining tent, sitting
area, sleeping tents, beach picnic table, etc and we instantly fell in love
with that place. It was already 4 PM in the afternoon, past the normal lunch
time but they had kept piping hot lunch ready for us. It was a decent meal
experience enriched due to the natural setting around us and the gentle Ganga
flowing closeby.
Soon after lunch, we had the option of doing the waterfall
rappelling right away or the following morning. It also required us to trek for
another couple of KMs. Though we were terribly tired but wanted to start early
next morning, so that we could reach Gangotri at the earliest. Hence, we asked
them to arrange for rappelling right away.
Rappelling
After walking for 30-45 minutes, we reached a place where
there was a sheer cliff which descended onto a small flowing stream. With rope
support at the back, we began walking down at a 90 degree angle to the cliff
and descended next to the stream. Walking upstream we realized that it lead us
to a beautiful waterfall with a shallow pool at its base and an outlet in the
form of a small stream. The waterfall seemed to be like a silver curtain,
hiding treasure cave or a hidden path behind it, the like of which we see in
fantasy movies. Getting below the cold water falling with immense pressure was
enough to numb our senses and run a shiver down our spines. We had that calm
and soothing place all to ourselves and we spent quite a lot of time there
until it was too dark to decipher each other’s faces. It was then that we
decided to climb our way uphill and retrace our path back to the camp.
By the time we got back it was already 7:30 PM. It had been
a pretty tiring day overall and we just wanted to sit back and relax besides
the bonfire lit for us. We had barely settled ourselves over the chairs that we
were welcomed by tangy spicy pakoras with chutney and fried peanuts and a
refreshing evening tea. We started reminiscing over the beautiful day spent
doing all the fun and adventure activities besides the crackling fire. The
weather also started becoming chilly and we were enjoying the warmth provided
by the fire. Bharath played some melodious songs on the flute providing the
perfect tranquil background music required at a place like that.
Sitting under the starlit sky, on the silver sandy banks of
gentle flowing Ganga, enjoying the cool gentle breeze, besides the warmth
provided by the bonfire, chatting idly, listening to Bharath’s calming
melodious flute tunes and munching over snacks, it was a memorable experience,
one that we couldn’t possibly forget in a long time.
Soon it was dinner time and we had both veg as well as
non-veg food served. Kishan had simply too much fun because he had all the
chicken to himself being the only non-vegetarian in the group. Soon we went to
our respective tents, laid under the blankets and were lulled to a dreamy
sleep.
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