Monday, April 13, 2009

A tale of two days.....



A silhouette of mountains standing splendidly with all its grandiose, the majestic ganges flowing quietly amidst the rustic surroundings, a white sand beach next to the river, startling pebbles scattered meticulously all over the sand, and there I’m standing, a trifle entity, watching it all totally mesmerized. The serenity of the surroundings are seemingly bringing me closer to where I belong. It’s so quiet that I can actually hear the musical sound of ganges gushing through the rocks. I’m not dreaming!! This is nostalgia. It’s a consequence of my recent trip to Rishikesh for river rafting. The two days have perhaps been the most adventurous days of my life and I’m wondering where to start. Few excerpts from my unbelievingly intense encounter with nature.
We stayed on a beach camp in Byasi. There were small little tents lined up on a majestic sand beach. As I headed towards mine, a strange kind of serenity was settling somewhere inside me. The very thought of living in a tent was so enticing that I felt ecstatic, yet so much in control of myself. A little downside were the tent washrooms but as they say, “No pain No gain”. Living in a tent, by the river side was actually an amazing experience.

After having our breakfast, we embarked for rafting. Just to add few pieces of information here, Rafting is mainly done on WhiteWaters where the currently is bubbly, or aerated and unstable; and the frothy water thus appears white. Coming back to the buzz, 4-5 hours of Rafting were amazing thrill. As we maneuvered our way through the emerald green water and entered the rapids, the seemingly quiet river gradually manifested into brisk turbulent spurts. In a gist of moment, our raft was potently hit by the waves, leaving us all drenched and euphoric. I practically got my first glimpse of real thrill and was craving for more. Whenever, the flow was regular, all of us actually jumped into the cold river water and simply swam, floated. It was amazing. Floating in a vast river which has been flowing continuously for years as if I’m a part of this vastness. Made me feel kinda majestic. Anyhow, the most awe-inspiring part was cliff jumping towards the end of rafting. This was to jump from some 25-30 feet cliff straight into the water. Sounds remarkable ?Yeh! I did it :), though after minutes of mustering courage, but I actually did it…… !!

By the end of rafting I was so damn tired; I had my lunch and quietly dozed off to sleep. When I woke up, it was dark. I went outside and gosh!, I was completely spellbound by the starlit sky, silhouette of the mountains, moon gleaming on the river, rippling sound of water, lanterns shimmering in the dark and a camp fire right outside my tent. It was totally spectacular and romantic. I enjoyed the bonfire for some time and then along with some friends, went for a walk towards a rapid named ‘The wall’. Walking on the beach amidst the rocks in a starlit night had its own mystic charm.
Next day wasn’t as adventurous but was equally fun & enjoyable. I did rock climbing & rappelling. We did lots of water splashing, got ourselves drenched, clicked some amazing photographs, enjoyed a nice meal at Rishikesh , made a mess during the return train journey and reached Delhi around 12 o clock.
My two days filled with thrill and excitement were thus over leaving me with many wonderful memories to cherish….. all kudos to the unmatched thrill, serene and rustic surroundings, and most importantly, the spirits which each one of us had :)

5 comments:

Sue said...

Sounds like you had a blast - a river rafting trip is high on my list of things to do before I get too old. Have done a short, hours trip and it was amazing, but would love to go longer!!

Nice to hear from you again, would've loved more photos...

Sue ;)

Yachna said...

@Sue:even mine was a 4-5 hours trip..but too good...for more pictures... u there on facebook.... ?

Sue said...

Hi Yachna,

I am on Facebook... will look you up now. YAY! Can't wait.

Impressions said...

Hey dear... well documented piece of travelouge bringing back old memories :)

Sue said...

Hi again, I coundn't find you on facebook, could you try find me?