Gathering by the Ganges

S.A.C.C
April 29th and 30th would remain as one of the most memorable days in my life. The plan was put into action when Rama and Venkatesh reached Delhi on a holiday. I, Padma, Rama and Venkatesh hired a pvt taxi to go to Rishikesh to do, guess what … River Rafting in Ganges. Thanks Padma for your amazing idea.

We left at around 6.30 pm on 29th April and enroute discussed topics of “national interest” like reservations, Pramod Mahajan etc, wherein everyone had some unique viewpoint to contribute. We chatted generally and simply enjoyed the “guppa” session.

But ofcourse, before I proceed further, I have to describe Venkatesh to you all. He is an enormously intelligent and knowledgeable person. Extremely sensitive, he brings to the discussion his intellectual prowess and completely floors the listner with his soft style of speaking. I’m sure he is a little more evolved than an average man. He made a huge impact on rest of the gang.

The guppa session went on despite few speedbreakers like some diversion of traffic. There were supposedly some disturbances in some village resulting in about an hour of confusion. Ultimately, Raja’s leadership skills (I went and spoke to the policeman and found the correct route) came to the rescue and we all reached Rishikesh by 2.00 a.m, thus proving the famous quotation, we all know so well, “God helps those who help themselves”!

Next day morning, the real thing started. We all went by jeep to the banks of Ganges. The River Rafting(RR) chap, took all the legal precautions and got signed necessary papers(They will not be responsible in case we are drowned!).We put on the life jackets and helmet and the boatman(I don’t know what else to call him) ordered us to get inside the raft. Then we all rowed, forward and back etc and reached…our first RAPID(there were 5-6 of them). Yaah, that’s what its called, when water rushes from one level to the other. The force and volume of water in Rapids has to be seen and experienced, to be believed. IT WAS AWESOME. Water comes rushing and takes the raft in its stride. After the rapids, all the water has to be thrown out. Then came the REAL thing. We all jumped out of the raft (with life jacket).Just imagine a non-swimmer in middle of ganga. My God, that was a huge experience for me. Rama, true to her promise, tried to drown me by doing some natak. Sundar, you could have shown off some of your swimmimg skills. We took some amazing photos ( www.bnarayanan4.photosite.com) and enjoyed every bit. I will thank, Badri, my Brother-in-law, on behalf of all of you, for putting all the photos on the photosite.

After 2 and a half hours and 18 KMs of rafting, we reached, Ram Jhoola which was the culmination of our expedition. We changed and went to ISKON Temple……..for what? Not to pray! We went directly inside the restaurant and had a sumptuous lunch. God ofcourse, punished us by denying the darshan afterwards.

While returning back we played….Antakshari in the car. Needless to say, we all missed Suresh and Nalini. I and Padma were in one team and trounced the team of Rama and Venkatesh. Venkatesh was graceful in accepting the loss. Rama is still struggling to come to terms with the defeat!

Overall a memorable trip. Highly Recommended for everyone.

Raja