Trip to Uttarakhand

‘Vacation--Travel--Nature—Adventure—Fun’... the words are always running randomly and freely inside my mind… And they are as common as the words ‘Girls—Flirt—Love--Freedom--Fun’.. Though, both these species of words are always regularly hunt by the predators like 'Career-Assignment-Stress'... :) I guess, this is due to an overdose of this ‘run of the mill’ lifestyle and the constant search for existence of MY OWN SPACE inside the small 60 sq ft bullpen and a less than 1 sq ft space inside a crowded Mumbai local train...

After a number of failed plans earlier, almost frustration from that ‘we-need-to-do-something-to-de-stress’, and a lot of pondering, we zeroed down on Rafting in Rishikesh… ”Finally…!” that was the only word I managed to utter at that time..

We booked for a 2 days - 2 nights rafting camp (Camp Rapid-fire) located on a beach by the Ganga at a village about 30 km from Rishikesh. Google, as usual, offered a great help and we clubbed a couple of days’ excursion to the Jim Corbett National Park with this rafting trip. A couple of weddings in Rajasthan was just enough reason to get us packing our bags. After juggling between attending wedding functions and roaming around in Chittorgarh, Pushkar and Ajmer inside the Land of Maharajas, we moved to the Land of Sages (Devbhumi)

Rafting down the River
After finding our way along the Ganga through holy Haridwar and beautiful Rishikesh, when we reached the camp, it was already late morning and the white beach sand was really hot. The waters were flaunting a mighty current and were icy cold, as the glaciers start melting with advancing summer. We merrily got ready for our first rafting trip that noon, as we were taught how to paddle and how to keep our cool inside the cold waters, in case we fell off.

The Ganga travels a distance of more than a couple of hundred km to reach Rishikesh. A 24 km patch of Ganga between Marine Drive (Yes! For you, Mumbaiites, there is one more outside Mumbai!) and Rishikesh is a great place for amateur rafting (Grade III to IV out of VI, as the professionals call it). To our surprise, Non-swimmers and novices could also enjoy rafting in this patch of the river.

The river rapids have been named at their creative best, like Black Money (a noted Industrialist has a house besides this one), 3 Blind Mice (3 major sequential rapids coming your way unexpectedly), Cross fire, Roller Coaster (is a level 4 rapid and the most thrilling), Tee off (a small rapid before the Golf Course, another major one).

While cruising (rowing, actually) along the deeper patch of the river and turquoise (literally!) waters, mystique Shivaliks offered a magnificent backdrop to the river water…A fine feeling takes over when you surpass those small whirlpools and ‘Eddies’ (bigger whirlpools!) unscathed and feel your life jacket wrapped around! Though, the best part comes when you listen to the foaming water gushing through the small terrains, inviting you into it.

The jerking and jolting raft inside the rapid is simply overwhelming. That ‘Something-inside-your-stomach-feeling’ when one is rushing down the wave-slope… that ‘I-am-at-your-mercy-river-feeling’ when negotiating those tougher rapids… and that refreshing feeling from the frequent splash of the cold waters. I guess just thinking of this can help me burst some stress for the next few months :)

There is a 20 ft high cliff along the river before Rishikesh and is considered safe for diving.. Well I dived for the first time from such a height… Again, a moment of freedom captured in that free fall after countless nervous moments before the jump! :)

Some other rafting locations in India
India once again proved that it is really Incredible, as we learnt that our country has one more variety to offer. It is so many rafting locations, making the sport possible throughout the year including monsoons.

- Himachal Pradesh - River Chenab in Lahaul, the Satluj near Shimla, the Ravi near Chamba and the Beas near Kullu offer immense whitewater rafting possibilities
- Jammu & Kashmir - It also happens in the Indus and Zanskar in Leh-Ladakh region
- North East - I have recently been reading that, parts of Brahmaputra take even a pro for a raft (ride!)
- Karnataka – A 9 km stretch in river Kali at Dandeli near Goa
- Maharashtra – A 9 km patch in the waters of river Kundalika fed by waters released from Mulshi Dam and Bhira damat (At Kolad, about 3 hour drive from Mumbai on Mumbai-Goa highway)

Bonfire on the Beach
Kayaking, Beach volleyball, a night walk through the mountain tracks under a starlit sky were just a few of the added windfall moments in the camp. But the icing on the cake came with a hip swinging ‘n’ singing session, complete with bonfire at the camp beach…

A bonfire in the cold river sand, another group of strangers, were creating an ideal setting for some game.. So after a few rounds of ‘Dumb Charades’ (some hilarious acting for movies like ‘Kshitij’, ‘Yeh hain Jalwa’ and 'Pataal Bhairavi’.. The dumbest part about Kshitij being nobody could recall the Hindi name for Horizon for almost ten minutes…) we went on to play ‘Truth or Dare’…

The ‘Truth or Dare’ went into few ‘detailed’ stages, as we gleefully drew some warmth from the burning wood and continued the confession sessions well into the dawn with just a couple of lanterns lighting up the place (err…barely lighting up the faces of everybody)..!

Corbett and the Wildlife
After a two hour nap that Bonfire dawn, cool and fresh, we left for Ramnagar, the town nearest to Jim Corbett National Park. I always keep wondering about this natural alarm which wakes me up so early and fresh, but sadly gets activated only when I sleep outside, under the sky.

We had our bookings at the Dhikala Forest Department guest house. Dhikala being centrally located in the park, our trip to the guesthouse was a virtual safari. As we were taking our first lessons about behaviour inside the jungle from our assistant, langoors, spotted deer, sambars and peacocks were emerging from the woods. Later on I learnt that, there are more than 40,000 deer and about 700 elephants inside the park and are pretty common sightings!

This Dhikala guesthouse is built on the high banks of river Ramganga… It offers a stupendous view of the river bed, almost 2-3 km wide, from the backyard of the guest rooms. The river was dry but one could just imagine the view in monsoons… The place is classic and well maintained, offers a variety of choices in food and has a natural ambience of its own.

Crouching Deer and Hidden Tiger!
On our first safari, we caught a glimpse of the tiger just for a few seconds on our way to Dhikala. On sensing a safari elephant roaming nearby, he leapt out of a muddy place into grasslands nearby. I feel, taking an elephant safari inside the jungle just raises your chances of sighting a tiger, as you can reach places inaccessible for Maruti Gypsy and this too without making much of a noise. In the later two safaris, our guide sensed that the tiger was really close and somewhere around, but he kept on evading us for the rest of the trip. Though, it was a fascinating learning to sense the presence of a tiger with the calls of the langoors, barking deers and some pugmarks…

Believe it or not, at the end of it, it didn’t really matter that we saw a tiger just for few seconds… As the tranquility of the river banks… the dense Sal tree jungles… the picturesque grasslands… different shades of colour green jostling for space in the background… tens of different sounds of birds at a time… number of sighting of herds of elephants, deer, peacocks, crocodiles & ghariyals and a variety of birdlife… all of this was really enthralling…! A pair of good quality borrowed binoculars proved to be the best accessory we could carry with us, though I felt a strong need for a good SLR camera…

Uttarakhand and Ecology
After traveling along the entire southwest border of Uttanrakhand, it was heartening to see the ecological sense of people there. They are definitely better preservers of environment. The staff at the rafting camp and at Corbett seemed pleasantly rigid with the ecological rules. Corbett National Park, I guess, is the only place I have seen in India, free of littered plastic bottles other artificial waste. Corbett is said to be the only reserved forest in India where tigers in the wild, last counted at 164, are growing in numbers…

The trip was full of hilarious moments, though it would require me to write entire chapters on each of them like, Bulls' 2 Eyes at the Dart game… Our dogfight for the cute girl at the bonfire… Kisse Dry pit toilet ke… Nilesh and the 20 ft cliff Jump… Nilesh and DD finally gelled and how... Anand saw a shooting star for the first time… etc… :)

Some planning and haggling… A bunch of ‘hungry-for-adventure and carefree’ friends… A couple of enchanting destinations… A camera… A pinch of humour… A dash of train / road journey… I guess that is a Perfect recipe of a memorable vacation..!

While I pen this down, I am still having that familiar feeling… ‘Even though its been just ten days, feels like it was really ages ago, when I had left a little early from the office to catch the train and embark on that journey…’

Na