Day 1:
The day started with all the tensions of taking stuffs which
are essential and also the ones which are not essential. So, that I don’t miss
anything and feel like home above 6837 feet above sea level. At last the time
came when I have to leave all the luxurious things of hostel life (kindly note
it’s only the single room and internet that I am missing) and start my journey
to a new destination. It was always like something new for me to catch a window
seat in train and watch the moving scenery. The train journey full of batch
mates ended early next morning.
Day 2:
Delhi: “dil walon ka sahar”. Journey starts in an 8 seater
vehicle with me fitted somehow in the back seat with the entire luggage dumped
on the seat leaving no room for me. Anyways the rising sun, the foggy Delhi
morning was welcoming me with small breeze of cold waves. And I tried my best
to beat the cold waves with homemade paratha, sandwiches and tea.
On the way saw the “Mansa Temple” and “Har ki Pauri” in Haridwar. Reached Rishikesh at 12:00 PM. We were on time. Cheers.
And I was about to live my most adventurous moment of my life. Yes, it’s River rafting. Got ready for the thrill and the organizer drove us to the starting point. As usual did some photo shoots in the rafting costume. And after the basic training session we were all seating on the boat trying to get as much grip as possible. The starting was awful but then we all got synchronised. We started our journey by hailing “Ganga Maiya ki Jai”.
We were all happy and enjoying till the first “Rapid” came.
Sweet Sixteen. Name so lovely, but it bought out heart to mouth. The thrill
moment can’t be described in words. Soon after “Roller Coaster” Rapid came and
it just took away the grips we were trying to maintain and left us all in sheer
thrill and fear. It took some time to regain our selves from the after effect
of being able to cross that rapid. But to add to our adventure “Golf Course”
rapid was waiting for us to make us all dive deep into its mightiness. One hit
of golf course and I left the oar and glued myself to the boat. That’s all I
remember. Later the instructor said the boat was fully filled with water.
Then came the moment to dive into pure mighty Ganga and
leave yourself to the flow. The water was chilled I swear but the experience of
floating on a river having average depth of 50 feet was awesome. Break Time.
Ohh!! How could I forget the Cliff diving part? Jumping from a height of 30 -
40 feet into the water having depth of more than 20 feet can only be felt. The
moment when you are coming out of water is like taking a new birth. Also, the
taste of Maggie there was par above what I had till date. And then we were all
back to the organizer office. On the way we also saw “Lakshman Jhula” and the
monkeys walking on the rope so elegantly.
Got an auto and somehow we 7 managed ourselves into the tiny
auto with all our luggage. Reached the bus stand and took a bus to Haridwar.
Our train was a late night train to Kathgodam.
