Glimpses of my trip...

I just got back from my “rafting on Ganga” trip. I have to say that I had a great time! I left Pune on May 28 and was back on June 4. The trip turned out to be much better than what I expected. Rather than boring anyone reading this with the detailed itinerary I will just share a few of the exciting moments on the trip.

About the campsite at Brahmapuri: Beautiful! Our tents by the riverside, silver sand, the beautiful Ganga in front of us, and the mountains opposite us. Honestly, no words or pictures would do any justice. So just have a look at a few pictures and see for yourself (or just meet me…from the glint in my eyes or all my funny expressions you might be able to guess what I’m talking about). The first glimpse of the campsite made me miss everyone back home, as I would have loved to share that experience with all of them. The view from our tents was absolutely stunning. We slept with our legs facing the river so as soon as we woke up we had the view of the beautiful Ganga in front of us.
Well on the last two nights we shifted to another campsite. It didn’t have the beautiful view in front but had electricity, shower, toilet and bathroom inside the tents to compensate. To think of it I preferred the first campsite…. Anytime!

Most beautiful sight ever: At night, sitting on these extremely comfortable cane chairs, your feet feeling the soothing cool silver sand, looking onto the moonlight reflecting on the water and the dark mountains in the background. Cool breeze and calmness in the air. (Try to take a deep breath in, close your eyes and imagine this beautiful sight)

Exercise sessions every morning: I have to say that only very few people enjoyed these sessions (that includes me and my friend Neha). Everyday before going rafting we had an exercise session. Once the instructor at the camp took the workout, once a professional Yoga teacher was there to teach us the basics of yoga and once me and Neha took a workout. As much as we enjoyed making people workout, few of them would have enjoyed pushing us off the cliff for making them go through it. Our workout had different effects on different people. Few loved it, few were enough warmed up before rafting, few just wanted to push us off the cliff, whereas it helped a few to shit after two days in spite of the not-so-welcomed morning experience (that is queuing up outside the ‘back to nature’ toilets)

The actual white water rafting part: It was the most amazing experience. On the first day of rafting we covered a stretch of 16 kms from Shivpuri to Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM). On this stretch we went through the following rapids (all of which were of the rapid 1,2,3,4 level. And the British have named all)
- Return to centre
- Roller coaster
- Tea off
- Golf course
- Club house
- Money flower
- Initiation
- Double trouble
The rafting experience was most thrilling. I remember, out of nowhere our instructor asked us to jump in the river (with all safety gear on). First we were scared but then after we jumped in the cold water it was fun!! The most exciting part was sitting in the front of the raft and go through the most stirring rapids where you can see a 5ft-6ft waves coming in your direction and you get pushed back still have to maintain the balance in the raft…you come out of it saying nothing else but WOOHOO!!! Bodysurfing, that is just letting yourself flow with the current was fun. With the lifejackets and helmets on, just lie on the back and let the current to the rest. Wow! On the first day this was followed by another thrilling experience- cliff jumping. We had to jump off a cliff about 30feet high into the deep water. The first time I was about to jump, I was scared but then my instructor asked me not to look down and just jump and I did that. When in the air in between the cliff and the water, that’s when I felt the extremes of fear and thrill. Can’t explain the feeling. But for the next one, though I wanted to jump and feel that feeling again I couldn’t take that first step. I went to edge a couple of times and came back. Finally my instructor, Siddharth held my hand and jumped with me…I enjoyed the jump again! On the last day of cliff jumping similar thing happened. I have to thank Siddharth if he wasn’t there to jump with me, I wouldn’t have jumped and I would have regretted not being able to jump the last two times.

On the second day of rafting we covered a stretch of 10 kms. from Marine Drive to Shivpuri. This stretch included the following rapids:
- Good morning
- Black Money
- Three blind mice
- Crossfire
- Pugmarks
- Bodysurfing
- Crossfire
- Butterfly
And on last day we did the entire stretch from Marine Drive to NIM. It has been one hell of an experience.

Aarti on the banks of the river Ganga: On one of the evenings we went to see the Ram Jhula and then attended an aarti on the banks of the river Ganga. It was a beautiful experience because one could see the sun setting behind the huge Lord Shiv idol and the loud chants and prayers were being recited. It was a strange peaceful experience. But after a while it was a bit dull but then I found something that kept me going. I was observing people and their individual way of praying and the level of faith, their expressions and so on. On one hand there was this pure form of Ganga and people worshipping the great river but on the other side sitting at the same place I could see a dead body being immersed in the same river. That makes us think about what we have done to the river. The most pure and healing river is being contaminated by dead bodies, people having a bath in the river, immersing the flowers and all sorts of left overs from the pooja and so on. That was a bit disturbing. In Hindus they say that when on the deathbed a person should be given the holy Ganga water but today I think if anyone has that water that person would die before the actual time.

I recommend this tour to everyone who even thinks that they ‘might’ enjoy the rafting trip. Go for it I vouch that you would enjoy. And if you do go for it and when going cliff jumping, if you get scared, find someone who will hold your hand and jump with you. I thought cliff jumping was one of the highlights of the trip and I would have regretted not doing it.