Rishikesh – An Adventurous Journey.

 There is no certainty; there is only adventure – Roberto Assagioli

Gateway to Himalayas – that’s what Rishkesh is called and it totally befits the description. The majestic Ganges flowing down the valley shows the spirit and energy that the city command.

Wow!! This was the most happening day. We started late but we did the most daring adventurous stuff with full of thrill this day.

We reached Bungee Jumping venue about 2PM (Jumpin Height). With some formalities in their office, we moved to Bungee Jumping platform. Since it is normal to give lot of thought about such adventurous activity before conquering it, I had clearly decided to not to think about anything till the time I reach at jumping platform. I was very much successful in controlling my thoughts to that extent.

Ahmed jumped first since is he belong to Green Zone code me and bhayya belongs to Red Zone… lolz… let the color code be the secret, we could hear him screaming, that was enough to increase my heart beat…  then two other guys then it’s time to change the code for Red Zone ,

KAKKA ALL SET TO JUMP 

Bhayya opted for the first jump and I opted for the second turn. Platform has a passage of around 60 meters and Crew allow only three people at a time to go up to jumping platform. Bhayya and I reached at the platform. That was the time when I realized about what I am conquering today. . First Kakka Jumped, , Bhayya was put on all Harness and locks and was asked to move ahead. He sat for a while when harness and all locks etc were put on to me as well, it is hard to describe the feelings when I was getting ready to jump..

I looked at Bhayya and he looked alright, not at all nervous he was too excited. That added more spice into what I was undergoing. He was asked to move till the end of platform and Crew guy told something to him and he dive smoothly, there was no sound, when I looked down I saw he was enjoying and as per the Jump Master “Best Jump of the season”

BHAYYA CHECKING THE HEIGHT AT THE LAST MINUTE....

Hardly half a minute and Crew asked me to come forward and sit for a while. Two Crew guys cross checked all the locks three times each and then I was asked to stand up and move forward slowly towards the edge of the platform. A rope was tied on my ankles and I was standing on the edge of jumping point. Before reaching to the dead end I was normal and did not felt what I am going for. But when I looked down I thought to come back. It was like committing suicide from 100 feet of height. Then I remembered “ Fear is temporary but the regret is forever”

IM .. TWO MINDED .. LOLZ

The experience after that showed completely different aspect of my personality. As I started moving forward towards end of the platform I was nervous and scared , crew guided me to move towards the end of the platform stood there for a while tried to calm down myself.

A Free fall and your mouth is just open and you see yourself falling down extremely fast. Then in few seconds you get a smooth shock of rope and gets a rebound towards upper side and then second and third. It is all about thirty seconds and you are done. By the time I stabilized in Air, I was shouting and I was really happy that I did not give up. And I could see kaka and bhayya down waiting for me.

when I was hanging from the rope. I could see river flowing down my head and I could see the blue sky and green mountains while hanging in the sky. Slowly they got me down and one person was standing on the ground asked me to hold the stick. After attempting twice finally I got hold of the stick and they pulled me down on the bed which was lying on the ground.

As soon as I got up from the bed he gave me a bottle of mineral water and put a badge on my chest written “I’ve got GUTS!!”.  Now that was proud moment. They also gave us a certificate of Jump. Once we reached the office we had seen our video of jump. After relaxing for half an hour, we returned to our hotel.

we missed zeddy that day as he had to travel back home due to the some emergency. 

Most happening day ended with good things and most importantly thoughts.

Video Links 

http://youtu.be/6pekH2BAXMU   - JESSIL ALAKKAL

http://youtu.be/Dcn4Dmncu0U   - ANIL BERRY

http://youtu.be/eXD-c6INFSI   - AHMED ALI

Rishikesh - White Water Rafting

Today we have to wake up early morning as we need to report by 8.45 for Rafting Trip.

Red Chilli one of the famous tour operator in Rishikesh took us to Shivpuri, the starting point of the rafting. The gushing waters of Ganges swirled into violent rapids, smashing around the rocks, and spin – drifting its icy waters.  Having carried our raft down to the banks, we were ready to roll. The river cuddles high grade rapids in its water. Grade II to IV+ rapids can be enjoyed in this river.

“Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.” 

Lots of speculations about water temperature and cold windy weather in Ganga River, eight of us, encountered 26KM Long River rafting. Water that day was extremely clear with green color like a wide sheet of green grass. Since I had done river rafting earlier, I was not much worried about it other than cold freezing water.

I sat on the front right and bhayya on left kaka was placed behind me. Me and bhayya was only who had previous rafting experience, also captain wanted two strong chap at the front, We crossed first rapid and I sensed that low water level will make our rafting easier and less thrilling. River was very calm and our raft moved slowly. All of us were quietly enjoying the calmness of river and beautiful valleys around Ganga , We crossed few rapids and then our captain allowed us to jump off the raft. For Ganga Snan. Except me all jumped into cold freezing water.

We had a body surfing rapid also in which we were allowed to jump outside the raft in the rapid. , it was fun to flowing down, in fact we were floating. And I drank so much water. and I got purified as per Hindu mythology.

Words cannot describe this experience. Truly awesome. The rapids have interesting names as well, like, Sweet sixteen, Hugs & Kisses, , Three Blind Mice, Cross Fire, Roller Coaster, Double Trouble, Golf course etc.

Rapids like roller coaster, marine drive and golf course was fun, sitting in front and watching each and every moment of water was an experience to count. The best thing was Golf course with small ups and downs. And view looked like a mesh of countless small hills spread over river.

Half way through, we stopped at the banks of the river and had snacks and soft drinks. After a short rest, we were back on the raft, braving the rapids that tried to capsize our boat and throw us into the whirlpools. Sounds scary, but even if we did fall out, we’d float and the raft would pick us up after, And we didn’t try cliff jumping, as the guide felt that there wasn’t sufficient water for a safe splash down. The whole rafting took close to 5 hours. There were several times when we thought that our raft will hit the cliffs or will turn upside down but nothing happened as we followed the instructions carefully.

The rafting ended unexpectedly at a strange place. But we thoroughly enjoyed this experience. 

A picture is worth Thousand words -------- Video will be uploaded soon