As a prelude to my blog, I would like to inform the global readers that Rishikesh is a place in northern India situated on the banks of upper reaches of holy Ganges in the lap of mighty Himalayas. All these combination to me sounds only one thing... awesome !!! and it was.
When we talk about Rishikesh the first thing that comes in our mind is its aesthetic beauty, its holiness etc. But for us the whole and sole purpose was to do white water rafting. Rishikesh is one of the few places in India were we have facility to enjoy this sport.
We went to Rishikesh in last weekend of November this year. We were four people all from the same company. We drove all the way to the place from Delhi. We hired Tata indica which was sufficient for us. It takes around 5 and half hours to reach Rishikesh from Delhi. So we started early at 5 o' clock in the morning. It was pitch dark and cold too. Thanks to Pramod who was given (or taken) the responsibility to ensure that we were all on time. I got a call from him at 3:30 AM !! Just a small conversation snippet:
Pramod ( in a somewhat concerned voice) : Hello Govind, hey kya abhi tak utha nahin ??
me (from my deep slumber): hain.....haan....uthna... haan @#$%
Pramod : wake up else we will get late.
me (now a bit concerned) : ya right..!!
call ends.
So that was how the day started. I got up. And by 4:45 I was ready, on the street waiting for the car. From a distant I could see the two headlights blinking vigorously in the otherwise deserted road.
Well there were four people as expected including the driver. Delhi to Rishikesh was an interesting journey. We passed through Delhi-Noida expressway and came across two heavy vehicles lying under the impact of accident. One was a milk carrier and other one was heavily loaded construction material carrier. We took first stop at a small tea stall just after crossing Noida. It was still very dark. Except Pramod who was sitting in the front, me, Karthik and Vijay slept in most part of the journey. When I woke up we had crossed Moradabad. Sun was up but the morning was too foggy. As we approached Roorkee we could see lush green fields. It was simply awesome. One thing for which Roorkee is known most is it is home to IIT which is situated on the side of highway. It took around one hour to reach Haridwar. It was a great feeling. I was visiting Haridwar after almost 17 years. Then I was a kid but still i had fond memories of the place. I remebered the Har ki Paudi, place where people take bath in holy Ganges and get rid of their sins, then majestic evening Aarti of Ganga , Mansa Devi temple on the hill top where we go by ropeway and offcourse the delicious tikia and rabri.
But as I said, our main purpose for the trip was rafting so without any delay in Haridwar with went to Rishikesh which is about 30 kms from Haridwar. After having breakfast at Rishikesh, we took a rafting package from one of the several agents available ans started of for a place 22 kms upstream of Ganges. It was the place from where we our journey.
We adorned the life jacket and helmet and a oar. The water was ice cold. Our guide gave us a few quick lessons of rafting and instructions to follow like right backward, left forward, how to handle the rapids etc. Then we started for our 5 hr journey.
We encountered 8-9 rapids with funny names like Good Morning, Golf Course, Double Trouble, Three Blind Mice, Daniel’s Dip, Sweet Sixteen, Cross Fire and Roller Coaster. Rapids are places in the river course where water current suddenly increases. There are several reasons for this change in current like steep gradient, narrowing of the course, blocking boulders etc.
Our guide was good entertainer too. With an american english accent he used to give us instructions to follow. Before entering any rapid we were told say "Ganga maiyya ki jai".
We had a small stay in our journey near shivpuri before marchin ahead. Then we started again. At later afternoon, temperature started decreasing, so whenever rays were blocked by the hills we felt really cold. One of the high point of our rafting trip was cliff jumping. It was more than 25 feet high and was thrilling.
Our rafting journey finally ended at Lakshman Jhula. It was sunset and banks were buzzing with evening aarti. After changing our wet clothes we went directly to have sip of hot tea and samosas.
From there we headed for night camp close to shivpuri. It was dark with only source of light being lanterns with deafening sound of gushing river water. Fortunately I met my good old college friends at same camping site. They are also working in delhi. There was bon fire . Roasted peanuts and fried papads for snacks and at around 8 we had dinner. After playing cards for hr or 2 we went to sleep. In the morning we could able to see the awesome beauty of the place. Riverline was surrounded by fine sand and there was volley ball court too. After a quick volley ball match and some stroll and breakfast, we started for Haridwar.
At first we had plans for visiting Rajaji National Park but it was later canceled since we were late. At Haridwar we visited Mansa Devi Temple and had to take a rope way to reach there.
From there we started our return journey for Delhi with a break at Dhaba for lunch. Then we also visited IIT Roorkee which has really nice 160 yr old campus. We reached Delhi at around 7 o' clock. Had a nice dinner at South Indian Restaurant Naividyam in Green Park, went home and had a good sleep.
When we talk about Rishikesh the first thing that comes in our mind is its aesthetic beauty, its holiness etc. But for us the whole and sole purpose was to do white water rafting. Rishikesh is one of the few places in India were we have facility to enjoy this sport.
We went to Rishikesh in last weekend of November this year. We were four people all from the same company. We drove all the way to the place from Delhi. We hired Tata indica which was sufficient for us. It takes around 5 and half hours to reach Rishikesh from Delhi. So we started early at 5 o' clock in the morning. It was pitch dark and cold too. Thanks to Pramod who was given (or taken) the responsibility to ensure that we were all on time. I got a call from him at 3:30 AM !! Just a small conversation snippet:
Pramod ( in a somewhat concerned voice) : Hello Govind, hey kya abhi tak utha nahin ??
me (from my deep slumber): hain.....haan....uthna... haan @#$%
Pramod : wake up else we will get late.
me (now a bit concerned) : ya right..!!
call ends.
So that was how the day started. I got up. And by 4:45 I was ready, on the street waiting for the car. From a distant I could see the two headlights blinking vigorously in the otherwise deserted road.
Well there were four people as expected including the driver. Delhi to Rishikesh was an interesting journey. We passed through Delhi-Noida expressway and came across two heavy vehicles lying under the impact of accident. One was a milk carrier and other one was heavily loaded construction material carrier. We took first stop at a small tea stall just after crossing Noida. It was still very dark. Except Pramod who was sitting in the front, me, Karthik and Vijay slept in most part of the journey. When I woke up we had crossed Moradabad. Sun was up but the morning was too foggy. As we approached Roorkee we could see lush green fields. It was simply awesome. One thing for which Roorkee is known most is it is home to IIT which is situated on the side of highway. It took around one hour to reach Haridwar. It was a great feeling. I was visiting Haridwar after almost 17 years. Then I was a kid but still i had fond memories of the place. I remebered the Har ki Paudi, place where people take bath in holy Ganges and get rid of their sins, then majestic evening Aarti of Ganga , Mansa Devi temple on the hill top where we go by ropeway and offcourse the delicious tikia and rabri.
But as I said, our main purpose for the trip was rafting so without any delay in Haridwar with went to Rishikesh which is about 30 kms from Haridwar. After having breakfast at Rishikesh, we took a rafting package from one of the several agents available ans started of for a place 22 kms upstream of Ganges. It was the place from where we our journey.
We adorned the life jacket and helmet and a oar. The water was ice cold. Our guide gave us a few quick lessons of rafting and instructions to follow like right backward, left forward, how to handle the rapids etc. Then we started for our 5 hr journey.
We encountered 8-9 rapids with funny names like Good Morning, Golf Course, Double Trouble, Three Blind Mice, Daniel’s Dip, Sweet Sixteen, Cross Fire and Roller Coaster. Rapids are places in the river course where water current suddenly increases. There are several reasons for this change in current like steep gradient, narrowing of the course, blocking boulders etc.
Our guide was good entertainer too. With an american english accent he used to give us instructions to follow. Before entering any rapid we were told say "Ganga maiyya ki jai".
We had a small stay in our journey near shivpuri before marchin ahead. Then we started again. At later afternoon, temperature started decreasing, so whenever rays were blocked by the hills we felt really cold. One of the high point of our rafting trip was cliff jumping. It was more than 25 feet high and was thrilling.
Our rafting journey finally ended at Lakshman Jhula. It was sunset and banks were buzzing with evening aarti. After changing our wet clothes we went directly to have sip of hot tea and samosas.
From there we headed for night camp close to shivpuri. It was dark with only source of light being lanterns with deafening sound of gushing river water. Fortunately I met my good old college friends at same camping site. They are also working in delhi. There was bon fire . Roasted peanuts and fried papads for snacks and at around 8 we had dinner. After playing cards for hr or 2 we went to sleep. In the morning we could able to see the awesome beauty of the place. Riverline was surrounded by fine sand and there was volley ball court too. After a quick volley ball match and some stroll and breakfast, we started for Haridwar.
At first we had plans for visiting Rajaji National Park but it was later canceled since we were late. At Haridwar we visited Mansa Devi Temple and had to take a rope way to reach there.
From there we started our return journey for Delhi with a break at Dhaba for lunch. Then we also visited IIT Roorkee which has really nice 160 yr old campus. We reached Delhi at around 7 o' clock. Had a nice dinner at South Indian Restaurant Naividyam in Green Park, went home and had a good sleep.
