And I was saved!

How would you feel when you have to run the first race of your life and you are told to run a marathon? The rafting in Rishikesh is of different types based on distances starting from 8 to 27km. Anyone, who visits there for the first time and their motif of opting rafting is to debut in the arena of adventure sports, they usually go for less than 18 Km one. If you are a group of 8 People then you can do whichever you want to because that is what the minimum number of people a raft boat can accommodate otherwise you can’t do anything but wait. It’s not a cakewalk to get companion when it’s out of season.

We were 3 people and chose 18Km, the one following Buddha ideology, “Madhyam Marg Apnao”. To my surprise, there was no more person of similar thought so no one came for 18 Km and hence we were thrown to 27Km Marine drive Rafting (probably longest in Rishikesh) paying little more money with added distance 9Km.

Years of study of English honors hasn’t ruined my mathematical sensibility as I calculated:

“If the boat travels at a speed of 30 Km/hr, then time to travel 9km is 18min. Suppose in worst case boat travels at the speed of 20 km/hr then extra time it will take is 27min”

In both the situations, there wasn’t any calculated loss because we hadn’t had booked tickets for an evening show, neither any girl was waiting to dine with us. But often theoretical knowledge will deceive you if you haven’t gone through practical. What I perceived about 9Km is a bike ride on the road devoid of traffic with the trees on either side and a beautiful scenic view with greenery irrigating my eyes. Only later I realized that I ignored upstream and downstream case and the fact that my passage is not on the land but in water. Nonetheless, the next moment I found myself adjusting in the middle of the back seat of pickup van. The other people sat on the back of the van which is usually used for transportation of goods. This was my first encounter with my crew members, all having bruiser bodies and looking like real adventurers. I soon kept that thought away as the picturesque outside was spellbinding. Who doesn’t love the road carved out from mountains and curved like jalebis with the hills on either side to embrace you on your way? Nature has bestowed ethereal beauty to this place. The best part is you don’t have to go straight always. Keeping this natural description short so that we can reach the main part of the article.

Our boat was taken to the holy water of river Ganga while we were busy in putting our helmets and life jackets. Before Rafting we had to go through a short tutorial by the instructor during which, he also taught us what to do if someone fell. I was like ‘Girte Bhi hai kya isme”. Our mission started by enchanting ‘Ganga Maiya ki Jai’. Now we were going to play with water and waves when the whole country was playing with colors, yes the date is of prime significance as it was festival ‘HOLI’. In major part of rafting, you have to simply paddle it as similar to rowing boat in the river which I found slightly boring. The danger and adventure only come when you pass through ‘Rapids’ which is formed with the coming of serious obstacles including multiple high, irregular waves and rocks. In these rapids, the boat shakes and jumps and tilt to a large degree with complete outpowering of water. Here only, there is a possibility of tumbling down from the boat. This is where the adventure altogether fears lies. The water here becomes completely foam like coming with a momentum as in tubewell used in irrigating farms and also making strange sound similar to roar.

The rapids are accordingly named to its nature and intensity – majors and minors like ‘Roller Coster, Return to the sender, Golf course, crossfire etc. We crossed them respectively with underlying fear and enthusiasm. Sometimes, the entire portion of the boat goes underwater and sometimes water overpower us just like playing ‘Hide and Seek’. Our clothes became wet from top to bottom .with every upcoming rapid our enthusiasm doubles. Aversion to water was almost gone and the fear of falling became obscure.

Next major rapid came with the warning of instructor.This is the monstrous one named as ‘camel hump’. The boat can even go upside down so fasten your life jackets and hold your paddle tightly. Lock your legs inside the boat so that even the toughest wave can’t shake you. Each person including me were busy in following the instruction. I can’t say that his words dreaded me that time. I was like ‘ Ek aur sahi , ho jayega’. The boat moved forward with me ready to showcase some real adventure. Ahead there was similar surf completely white and foam like which I can say was not the apostle of peace. Something frightening I can see in that. Not even a second lapsed when I find myself struggling with the surf. The boat nearly had hit the rock, can be said- a narrow escape. The surf grew more fierce after striking the sideways rocks. It came back to me with double strength. The boat tilted towards me making angle of 45 degree and in the meantime surf came dancing with a great force, forcing my upper portion centrifugally.

I couldn’t fight against those multiple forces as I was already unbalanced by the tilted boat and the rest of the work was done by the mighty surf. At first, upper part of the body felt the water and next moment I tumbled down , my paddle slipped away from my hand and the waves were happy to see their work done. Now I was also dancing with them in a zig-zag path, sometimes below the water sometimes above being carried away by some strong force. I have lost complete hold on myself. Even I had life jacket , it couldn’t prevent me from tasting the holy water and looking the world beneath it. Water serve as a good medium for sound to travel only when you have to converse with the organism inside it. Since the crabs and hydra will not come to help you, screaming is of no use and of course you wouldn’t want to call Dolphins. Fortunately, I gripped the rope which is provided around the boat but it appears that I couldn’t hold onto it much longer due the inward force, the water was exerting upon me. My hand became red and got scratches. The instructor ordered my friend who was sitting just above me now to lift me onto the boat as others couldn’t do it otherwise, the boat would unbalance. Here also theoretical knowledge betrays him, he too was frightened to see me drowning. He gave his hand but of no use first due to my body weight and second the inward force- Buoyancy. The other members who had experience of Rafting were guffawing at me as I have jumped in water willingly to entertain them like’ Gulliver’ was made to do in his second journey to Brobdingnag.

I gave up. The surf has completely taken me into its possession. I was completely exhausted both physically and mentally. My mind refused to make any more attempts in combat with the water. My time is up now. It’s better to sleep now in the holy lap of Ganga, talk with the creatures of the other world, play with them, collect pearls, take a long ride sitting on Dolphin’s back as I have heard they are quite friendly. No fear of drowning, every corner is yours …’Go wherever you want to, no restriction, everyone is your friend…. I was about to loosen my hold on the rope and bade my crew members and the world

‘Accha chalta hu, Duyaoon me yaad rakhna‘

But fate had some different plans for me. The instructor told my other friend from another side of the boat to help me while he occupied his position. They both now held me of my hand and I rolled myself with the energy I had and finally, I was able to occupy the boat. My paddle which was swimming without any master and was brought by the members with a technique called ‘paddle lock’. I returned to senses in a while, otherwise a few moments ago the world was upside down to me. The further journey went quite smooth as it was the last major rapid in which I was caught, others were minor, not causing much disturbance. After the completion of journey, I can’t resist myself narrating my experience at Home …

Mom rebuked holding her breath : Festival ka din hai kuch ho jata to?? Aaj se tera saara adventure band.

Dada ji : Jarur tu selfie lene gaya hoga, he said and detailed about how many died during past few months clicking selfies.

Believe me, using mobile is prohibited during rafting. We rested at Maggie point for few minutes and that’s the place where we clicked some pics!!!

– Shashank