Day 1:
Time: Between 6 a.m. and 7a.m. in morning.
Time: Between 6 a.m. and 7a.m. in morning.
Date: 18th June.
Location: Haridwar Bus Stand.
Our day started at the Haridwar Bus Stand. From there we had to reach Rishikesh, where we planned to spend the rest of our day. After few minutes we boarded a bus for Rishikesh.
Among a vast population, Rishikesh is famous for its religious places but few knows, that of late it has also gained reputation for adventure sports like White Water Rafting and Rock Climbing. We were here for the former. There are two tracks for rafting in Rishikesh. One is 16 km long while the other one is 9 km long. The longer route was closed because a few days ago, couple of people lost their lives in an accident hence we had to use the shorter route for our rafting. We also thought about spending the night in the camp but our schedule on the next day did not give us that liberty. While me, Arpit and Dixit went to arrange for rafting, other 4 booked the hotel for our night stay.
Our rafting started later in the day. While waiting for the boat to arrive, we spent some fun filled time at the bank of River Ganga. Earlier, three among us went to the bank while others including waited for them. Later we also followed them. The water in the river was ice cold but even that was not able to subdue our spirits. There we relived our childhood days, splashing water on each other, taking the dip in the river and trying fake swimming. Suddenly Parag met with a minor accident. He unknowingly stepped ahead into the river and found himself in the high waves of water. Unable to control himself, he slipped down and hurt his knee. Actually the bank of the river consists of the downward steps whose depth increases dangerously as we move ahead in the river. The muddy water of the river did not help the situation either. The only relief for us was that the injury was not serious.
After spending few hours at the bank we headed to the rafting spot. That place was 9 km upstream the river Ganga. The coordinator asked us that whether any one of us have prior experience in rafting to which I responded positively and hence was allotted the front seat (I did the camping at Rishikesh last year. Details can be found here). And for the next 3 hours we were on a fun filled, adventurous and chilling journey.
Our White water rafting or just Rafting started from somewhere near Brahampuri and ended at Rishikesh near Laxman Jhula. It was thrilling, heroic, adventurous, risky, charging, chilling, gelid, quivering and what not. We faced total 3 rapids (a section of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in after velocity and turbulence.) in our path. A rapid means high risk and obviously higher fun and thrill. Our rafting itinerary also included cliff jumping where I was hesitant to go, due to my previous experience but according to other members of the group, they enjoyed a lot.
An interesting incident took place at the cliff jumping site. One of our group members who have recently started smoking was looking for his wallet in the boat. (There is a water proof bag in every boat where one can keep his valuables during rafting). When he opened the bag he found a pack full of cigarette and a lighter which belonged to another group that was also rafting on the same boat. To avoid the trouble of taking money from the wallet and then keeping it back later, he decided to use the cigarettes of the other group. Without knowing that anyone is seeing him he smoked a puff from the pack. Suddenly Apoorv patted him on his back, revealing that he has caught him stealing the cigarettes from the pack. Though the heart of the smoker was as clear as the water at that spot, he thought it would be prudent to bury the matter there only.
Later we even jumped from the boat into the ice cold water (obviously with a Life Jacket) and had some fun filled moment while we were flowing along the current of the river. Strangely the coordinator of our group who arranged the whole trip, Apoorv Dixit himself didn’t jump in the water. We thought he is hydrophobic. Later in the trip we realized that he is also an acrophobic and nymphomaniac.
Finally the Rafting ended near Laxman Jhula and all of us were looking for some tea. Normally it would not have meant much but at that moment it was one of the most important commodities for us. Our next destination was Choti Wala Restaurant. Considered as one of the landmark place of Rishikesh, I have few blurring memories of this restaurant from my childhood when I came here way back in 1993-94. The restaurant which today resembles any of the high profile Food Joint of South Delhi was more like a Dhaba
almost 15 years ago. Similarly the Chotiwala Pundit who in a sense personifies the restaurant has undergone a massive image makeover in past decade. The food was undoubtedly delicious which justified our decision of coming here.
After spending some time in the market we returned to our hotel in Haridwar. While some of us went to book the seats in the bus for our journey next day, I with rest of the others remained in our rooms. Parag had got almost 100 miss calls on his mobile from his home and friends who were concerned about his well being. I was just amused about by this incident, completely unaware that a similar incident was waiting for me in the coming days. We were dead tired and went immediately to sleep. However this fatigue was just a glimpse of the hard days we were about to face in the coming days. We didn’t have the luxury of waking late in the night as the next day we had to catch the bus early in the morning.
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| Our Route |
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