Whatta fall from heaven!!
This is one death-defying fall we love to indulge in during the monsoon.
Even if it means rising up pretty early in the morning and travelling a
100-odd kilometres to keep our date with death. Free-falling from a
height of 80 ft with the gushing waters pounding the face is the dream
of anyone, not necessarily those who have a streak of adventure in him.
I am not talking about the dead people who are caught between the
cacophony of their mobile phones and the virtual reality of their
luxurious laptops. For them adventure is a spectator sport that is best
experienced on National Geographic or Discovery channel. So, let’s leave
them to their gadgets.
But, for some of us who love to keep
the adrenaline flowing, Nisarga Bhraman’s waterfall rappelling session
at Bekre village was a splendid chance to come face to face with our
fear of the unknown.
So on Saturday, I woke up before dawn and
got on the Expressway to Bhivpuri. And as the early morning light
pierced the dawn, it opened up a magnificent grey-and-green world
dripping with waterfalls in all their monsoon glory. Once I hit the
rising ghat between Lonavla and Khandala, the fog and the rain played
hide and seek with the visibility spicing up my thrilling journey.
And as I sped past the E-way to join the Khopoli link road, I stopped
wonderstruck at the maze of waterfalls flowing in the mountains to my
right. It was an absolutely gorgeous sight. Joining Rohit Nayak, Parag
Jadhav and Pankaj Borole at the Karjat Chowk Phata, I downed some nice
vada pav and hot, hot bhaji with some steaming chai.
And off
we went to Bekre collecting the rest of the guys from the Bhivpuri
station. With the rain lashing us, we got on to our feet for the trek
into the hill behind Bekre. Admiring the beautiful paddy fields, we
walked under narrow canopied pathways, trudged through ankle-high slush,
and hopped over fast-flowing streams. It was great fun.
On
reaching the base of the rising hill, we could hear the hoary sound of
the waterfall which sent our hearts into raptures. And as we went a
little ahead, we had a glimpse of the swift-flowing waters, and soon
enough we were in front of the thundering fall dancing down in all its
grandeur. The cameras went clickety-click, and everyone and his
girlfriend took a picture standing in front of the fall.
The
photo session over, we climbed up the last stretch of the hill to reach
the rappelling point. By then, Parag, Hemant, and Sameer had made all
the arrangements, and Sameer had even rappelled down. Basically, it
means that everything was ready for the down-fall.
After a
quick introductory session, I was called on to go down first. I started
off well, and I was pretty good till I went to the fall point, not
because I excelled at it but because Parag was there gently guiding me
to take the baby steps.
But once I lost sight of Parag, it was a
scary descent. I couldn’t find anything to rest my feet, the rock was
covered with slippery moss, and the water started pounding my face. In
other words, my spirits were going down under. Oh God! What do I do now?
In that state of momentary panic, all of Rohit’s
instructions, before I started out, to let go of the rope in the left
hand and put the hand to the rock to avoid getting hit on the face just
didn’t come to mind. And hitting my helmeted head to the rockface, I was
hanging in the air swinging from one side to the other.
There
was, however, one good thing going for me. I was in control of the ropes
and tried to find a foothold in the midst of the pounding waters. I
couldn’t find any despite my long legs! When fear overtakes you, you
can’t see anything nor can you hear anything. And I wasn’t trying to
hear anything anyway.
I kept my cool and lowered myself down
slowly with my knees scraping the rockface till I found a crevice to
rest my legs. I stood there for a while, when I heard Hemant’s voice
from below to swing to the left where the force of the water was less
and rappel down from there. And after that it was a lovely descent into
ecstasy.
If last fortnight’s waterfall trek to Ulhas valley
sent our spirits soaring to the stratosphere, this weekend’s waterfall
rappelling helped us build a nest there. It was so breathtakingly
beautiful!!
Thank you Rohit, Parag, Hemant, Sameer, Pramila and
Parag Jadhav for making this wonderful experience come true. We owe all
of you a ton of thanks.
Written By: N Venugopal Rao
Friday 17 August 2012
Thursday 16 August 2012
River Rafting_August 2012
BOY, THAT SINKING FEELING IS INCREDIBLE!!
KOLAD: “Is the water deep?” was the first question that was voiced after posing for all those Facebook photographs decked up in helmets and life vests. The enthusiasm transformed into fear as we walked the couple of paces to the rafting point. Our guide Rambo, a sweetheart from the North-East, was quick to answer with a sly smile. “It is, but you don’t need to worry as long as you follow the instructions.”
“I don’t know how to swim. Is it okay?” comes out the second one. It is echoed by everyone. “So do we.” And that makes her even more scared. “No one here knows swimming?! What if something happens to me?”
And more questions tumble out of our hearts like the swift-flowing waters of the Kundalika: What if I topple into the river? What if I can’t catch hold of the emergency rope? What if I this? What if I that?
And we gave vent to some more fears with nervous laughter till the mock drill was over and we set sail on our inflatable raft with cries of “Jai Kundalika.” The tension in the air was palpable. Everyone was was saying a silent prayer in his/her heart. And there was an uneasy calm. It was pierced by the guide’s shouts of “Paddle Forward”. And once we got into action, we only had one choice: either to sink or get out of that sinking feeling.
The guide made us do the mock drill all over again: “Paddle Backward”, “Stop”, “Hold the Rope”, “All Down”, “All Up”, “Paddle Left”, “Paddle Right”, till we became familiar with our paddling exercises.
And as we laughed at our weird actions, he gave us the loudest of shouts, “Paddle Forward”, “Faster”, “Faster”, “Faster”…. We rowed as swiftly as possible synchronising our paddles, when all of a sudden we were asked to “Stop”. We were sliding down into a mass of treacherous waters, called the rapid in rafting language, and as we hit the waters came the guide’s shrill voice “All Down”. You wouldn’t believe the swiftness with which we went ducking into the raft.
As the raft hit the waters, it rose at a 45 degree angle and the swirling waters hit us in our face and drenched us totally. And the force with which the raft landed in the proper position sent our hearts soaring to the skies. Woooo-hoooooo!! We survived the first rapid. Boy, that is an incredible feeling!
And when we came to our senses, what we feared would happen had happened: two girls, not from our group, fell off their rafts and were desperately trying to hold on to the trees in the waters. Rambo threw the emergency rope, and we pulled them up into our rafts.
And this gave an opportunity to our guide to tell us what happens when we panic. He advises us once again not to be scared, to lock our legs, sit on the edge of the raft, and keep rowing. To relieve whatever tension was left in the body, he encouraged us to splash water on the guys in the nearby rafts, and it triggers a whole load of competitive splashing.
And when we were in the middle of the fun, Rambo’s clarion call comes once again, “Paddle backward”. It was a sign that we were approaching another rapid. We did. “Stop” came the next cry. And as our raft hurtled down into the second rapid, came the shrieking cry “All down”. We ducked once again and rose as swiftly once we were out of the swirling mass of waters. We survived the second one too. Wow, it is getting better and better!!
By now we had got used to the rapids and were no more scared. We actually waited for the next rapid, and we paddled with joy hurtling from one rapid to another with fun names like Butterfly, Crow’s Nest, Fisherman, Rajdhani Express, and the most dangerous of them all, Johnny Walker. Wonder who gave those names? In all, we crossed a dozen rapids, when all of a sudden the river turned hermit-like and went into a silent mode.
Our guide asked us to jump into the river and make merry. Before that he made us stand on the moving raft to dispel any fear left in our hearts. So, we slid into the waters gingerly, one at a time, as if we were testing the waters, and once we were confident that we were safe in our life jackets, we had a jolly good time playing in the waters. But the best of all was the floating lying on the waters. It was the greatest nirvana after a good workout rowing the paddles.
If at all you get an opportunity to go for rafting, grab it. For it is the best way to celebrate your fears!!
Written by: N Venugopal Rao
KOLAD: “Is the water deep?” was the first question that was voiced after posing for all those Facebook photographs decked up in helmets and life vests. The enthusiasm transformed into fear as we walked the couple of paces to the rafting point. Our guide Rambo, a sweetheart from the North-East, was quick to answer with a sly smile. “It is, but you don’t need to worry as long as you follow the instructions.”
“I don’t know how to swim. Is it okay?” comes out the second one. It is echoed by everyone. “So do we.” And that makes her even more scared. “No one here knows swimming?! What if something happens to me?”
And more questions tumble out of our hearts like the swift-flowing waters of the Kundalika: What if I topple into the river? What if I can’t catch hold of the emergency rope? What if I this? What if I that?
And we gave vent to some more fears with nervous laughter till the mock drill was over and we set sail on our inflatable raft with cries of “Jai Kundalika.” The tension in the air was palpable. Everyone was was saying a silent prayer in his/her heart. And there was an uneasy calm. It was pierced by the guide’s shouts of “Paddle Forward”. And once we got into action, we only had one choice: either to sink or get out of that sinking feeling.
The guide made us do the mock drill all over again: “Paddle Backward”, “Stop”, “Hold the Rope”, “All Down”, “All Up”, “Paddle Left”, “Paddle Right”, till we became familiar with our paddling exercises.
And as we laughed at our weird actions, he gave us the loudest of shouts, “Paddle Forward”, “Faster”, “Faster”, “Faster”…. We rowed as swiftly as possible synchronising our paddles, when all of a sudden we were asked to “Stop”. We were sliding down into a mass of treacherous waters, called the rapid in rafting language, and as we hit the waters came the guide’s shrill voice “All Down”. You wouldn’t believe the swiftness with which we went ducking into the raft.
As the raft hit the waters, it rose at a 45 degree angle and the swirling waters hit us in our face and drenched us totally. And the force with which the raft landed in the proper position sent our hearts soaring to the skies. Woooo-hoooooo!! We survived the first rapid. Boy, that is an incredible feeling!
And when we came to our senses, what we feared would happen had happened: two girls, not from our group, fell off their rafts and were desperately trying to hold on to the trees in the waters. Rambo threw the emergency rope, and we pulled them up into our rafts.
And this gave an opportunity to our guide to tell us what happens when we panic. He advises us once again not to be scared, to lock our legs, sit on the edge of the raft, and keep rowing. To relieve whatever tension was left in the body, he encouraged us to splash water on the guys in the nearby rafts, and it triggers a whole load of competitive splashing.
And when we were in the middle of the fun, Rambo’s clarion call comes once again, “Paddle backward”. It was a sign that we were approaching another rapid. We did. “Stop” came the next cry. And as our raft hurtled down into the second rapid, came the shrieking cry “All down”. We ducked once again and rose as swiftly once we were out of the swirling mass of waters. We survived the second one too. Wow, it is getting better and better!!
By now we had got used to the rapids and were no more scared. We actually waited for the next rapid, and we paddled with joy hurtling from one rapid to another with fun names like Butterfly, Crow’s Nest, Fisherman, Rajdhani Express, and the most dangerous of them all, Johnny Walker. Wonder who gave those names? In all, we crossed a dozen rapids, when all of a sudden the river turned hermit-like and went into a silent mode.
Our guide asked us to jump into the river and make merry. Before that he made us stand on the moving raft to dispel any fear left in our hearts. So, we slid into the waters gingerly, one at a time, as if we were testing the waters, and once we were confident that we were safe in our life jackets, we had a jolly good time playing in the waters. But the best of all was the floating lying on the waters. It was the greatest nirvana after a good workout rowing the paddles.
If at all you get an opportunity to go for rafting, grab it. For it is the best way to celebrate your fears!!
Written by: N Venugopal Rao
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