river wild !

I am not one of those 'travelogue' persons..i kinda like to live in the moment, when i m outdoors i.e. and feel it the best way i can..but i want all of u to try this, hence this attempt :)
(hope it inspires some of you !!)

I went 'white water rafting' today !!!! yipppeeee !!!
yeah i know it was on my list of fun things to do..and believe me it was much more than that! :)

{ i dont know how exactly u write these things, but m going to be random..like the rapids we faced today :D }

me with a group of friends decided to go for white water rafting at Kundalika River.. yeah i know rafting in this season and that too in the dry region like maharashtra !! but the place where we went is pretty interesting ! The river is fed by excess water from Tata's dams, mulshi and bhira project..the dam gates open early in the morning..the gushes form an ideal rafting route for beginners (class 2 - 4, just to give some jargon :D)

these facts and figures apart, the itinerary started on a pretty bad note..we were supposed to reach the starting point at 7.30am as the water ie released during that time..but r driver decided to make a fool of us (otherwise he was a decent fellow :)) and dint fill up diesel the earlier night and told bout tis crucial strategically important (!!!) fact when we were almost outta the city :x
patiently played the wait game till 7 am as petrol stations out of the city start selling petrol at 7 !!
after the bad start, it had to be a roller coaster ride to make it just in time..
being eons late to reach the starting point (1.5 hrs at least) somewhat heartbroken we carried on.. to r surprise, the dam people had opened 2 gates and that too an hour late than usual !!
yipppeeee... (TATA ke ghar der hai par andher nahi !!)

we were provided with the full rafting gear :) then followed a brief training session on rafting and pedaling basics,calls for drastic measures :D etc..the trainers were really interesting, experienced rafters, who have done rafting in major rivers across India..to top it with some strawberries, our team was really cool; addu,sunny,me,lee and vasu :) our trainer (yes, there's one trainer in every raft) was a bit strict guy, who insisted more on technique (which was best for beginners like us) which slightly reduced the fun quotient ! (i have realized lately, that, fun quotient depends on a lot many things, one being the company ur with :D)

Mann, the real fun started when we entered the waters..r entry into the first rapid was like a newly wed girl, all hesitant and scared..but it was no looking back once we got all enthu and all drenched :D
the maneuvering needed to steer the raft was a bit professional for amateurs like us (the rowing experience back during college days indeed helped !!!) so we left it for the trainer :D
the rapids that followed were damn sport ! they needed sufficient skill but r trainer saved the day and we just sailed under his guidance :)
the rapids had interesting names too :D like morning headache, jhatka (means a jerk !), ratrani (its a flower), bloody ****er (whoa !!!) etc.

in a particular rapid the raft s supposed to flip, but thanks (or no thanks) to almighty, we had hefty company in r raft and hence saved the trainers lot of energies (in saving us i say :P)
but the over enthu us wanted to try that out too, so came back to the same rapid thrice (yes u can do that but, of course, with a lot of effort as u have to peddle against the flow) and when we finally succeeded, the raft dint flip but 3 members just fell out (the weight quotient :D again) It was a sight, on the trainers face i mean! the 3 who fell must have had the time of their lives (i dint fall cos i had held the rope too tight..sigh..)
there was one stretch of continuous rapids for 20 mins which was thoda tiring, but after that the river kinda slowed down and we were left with swimming ka option..
this was again a wonderful experience (especially for people like us who have never swam beyond a square box of 50*5)
we swam. we peddled. we floated. we played silly pranks too.. tell u life was never so relaxed and satisfied !
it dint end there..we had to peddle almost 2 kms to reach steady banks and come back to the starting point (by vehicles of course !)

me says, everyone should try this as its not very risky and not very tiring! moreover its something totally different and new..
im planning to go again in monsoons, for the current then will be more exciting!
well, all said and done, it was a completely 'river wild' experience..had never been so close to the nature (rivers i mean !)
feels just incredible !
btw my next destination should be the 'ganges', wot say ??? ;)

P.S. u can find out more about the site here :).