Place : Corbett
Date : 2nd April to 5th April.
And the journey/adventure continues :-)
The trip was planned a month back. When my friend Mohit, sent a message saying that he was planning the trip to Corbett on the 2nd april weekend. And how could i not react to that? :-)
And that's when the adventure begin,in city terms the strugle for me started right then (m used to it by now, nothing comes easy to me) :-) Well a week after that, got a call from Mohit saying some MLA's family coming in on those weekends so the forest guys have cancelled our booking at the guest house in Sarapduli and so if i was ok with pushing the trip.
That's when, my boss's faces flashed in front of me and the mail from the other boss which said - NO LEAVES TILL JUNE END (this mail was sent to us 5 times, once every week.Eeeks!!!) I think they both suffer from some manuposal thing - HYPER TO THE CORE. Both of them could come to the conclusion of deciding the sex of the child even before the child is born ....anyways...why discuss them, they are poor stressted out souls, who will burn out very sooooon :-)
Haan toh coming back to my trip - well, so i told Mohit - "No can do. I have to go 2nd April wala weekend" . And like moi - most of my friends are jugado (kya karen, that's the only way u can survive).
So Mohit, got back with the news, that there is one room available with another friend of ours - Joy (again a jungle boy) who is making his house, and 3 cottages on one side of the hill that he has bought. :-) so there yuppiee we are on again. Now came the question of train bookings, it was showing waitlisted. So Jugadu no.2 comes in - Moi. I knew i could get 3 tickets done from bhaiya (sshhh he is in railways) :-)
Now the D day comes in - we were to leave on 1st night @22:40 hours. And 18:30 hours, bhai calls to say - sorry, some MLA's letter has come.
And i was like some - MLA!!!!!!!! i was just hopin isee this MLA in the jungle - i would have thrown him into the river where the Crocs are .....%@#$%#$% - ek toh mere tax money par aish kar raha hai, aur upar se buger got my guest house bookin cancelled and now the train!!!!
Anyways, i told myself- Focus Anshu. Focus. The goal is to reach your jungle, the path doesn't matter.... so the back-up plan comes into effect. We take Highway Haseena (Mohit's Scorpio) drive down.
So 23:00 hours we set off and reach Corbett by 4:00 am, sayin helo to lots of jungle friends on the way. And then it was 3 days of heaven, calm, bliss and action. 3 days we had no track of time be it in terms of date or hours.
Took d trip with Mohit - D Jungle boy who knows Corbett like u would know your house :-). Stayed with Joy - another jungle boy who has made his home there. N wat an experience it was. Realized that there is so much more 2d jungle then just d Tiger. All d amazing birds n other animals. D jungle has so much to offer. Action 24x7, yet a sense of calm n peace :-) When we were sleeping in the gypsy in the jungle one afternoon - i realized that from one side i could hear d sound of d wind, from d other side, d sound of a bird calling, from d third side d sound of d monkey n sambar calling, it was like a surround sound effect :-)
Realized that just like d jungle in life too everything is about timing n to see things differently. In d jungle – I was trying hard to look for a tiger n d harder i tired -my vision was blank. Then I just decided to look at things differently. look at d way that monkey is reacting - its so different from d way they react when they r in d city. N that's when i started looking around n saw so many amazing things - birds, reptiles, all of it. Saw a monitor lizard n d way it walked saw how a herd of deer had so beautifully camouflaged itself. N then as d gypsy was goin ahead - joy's gypsy came next to us n said - follow us fast - we have got d tiger. So there i got to see d tiger as well. Not that i had given up on d tiger...its just that i had stopped looking so hard for it. If not d leopard i saw d leopard cat, if not d tiger - i saw d tiger butterfly. N ultimately i realized that what was important to me was - being out there in d wild, d feel of freedom. Suddenly remembered d lines from d song by Savage Garden - "I wanna run through d jungle, d wind in my hair n d and at my feet" :-)
D feeling of seeing d TIGER was more driven by d fact that - people would ask - did u see a tiger n trust me that exactly how it was, d moment i reached Delhi n got to office thy asked me - did u c d tiger. Idiots. cause for them its d cliché thing of jungle = tiger. Got to learn so much from Rashi, Joy n Mo. their passion just rubs on to you. :-) Adding some of Mohit's pics here for those of you who wouldn't have seen them on FB. N also d fact that he had a great camera which could reach everywhere. :-)
Hope to see you guys with me on my next trip. Till than, have fun, enjoy life - it has so much more to offer :-) Good bless you all.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Ganga Panga
Well, had written this loooong mail to all my friends and family and was told by some of them that i should be writing blogs...gee...the very mention of the word write got me sleepy... :-) cause trust me i just can't write...but i guess thats what one is supposed to do...just keep on putting down things as if one was talking to their friends... so here goes -
Ok, this is a looooooooong one so read it when you have time.Well, I have been meaning to share this with you for the past 2 weeks, but just couldn't get the time to do it…finally over the last 4 days…I have managed to put it all down, and upload the photos from my trip to Shivpuri – with the 'Ganga Panga' gang.Ok now to give you all a small background, well it all started on facebook, where I received an invitation from a friend to join this group. The group was started by 4 set of friends – Mohit Midha, Karan Bhalla, Vikram Bhalla and Hiranya Bharadwaj. Mohit is big time into adventure tourism and has done a lot of work for National Geographic. Anyways, these 4 friends are a riot when they are together, specially Karan, Hiranya and Vikram.So through word of mouth and messages on facebook, there were a total of 37 of us for this trip. The best part of the group was that no single person knew more than 2 people within this group. So the organizers of ganga panga had tied up with Snow Leopard Adventures who are damn good at rafting and stuff…and have their camps in shivpuri right on the banks of the river. Ok,now the action begins, and here is a small story for you all – the main characters of this story are – Amit from delhi (who is with IBN 7 in media sales), Vishal from bombay (who has a garment business and also has a travel agency and organizes weddings in exotic locations) , Rituraj from delhi (is a job consultant), Sangeen from Delhi, Dhanika from Bombay (has 2-3 shops in Bombay of accessories), Rachita from delhi (is with NEO Sports in media sales), Shubhra from delhi (is with MTV in media sales), Praveen from Ahmedabad (who is a banker) and me (with UTV in media sales) JThe trip was from 2nd Oct to 5th Oct. So I booked the tickets a good 20 days in advance in Masourie express for 2nd oct night. Only thing was got the 9 tickets as wait listed, well no harm. Since I was told myself – "Anshu beta do din phone calls karenge aur tickets confirm" J aur waise bhi it was a good 20 days before, and dad told me – "Masourie express. Oh usmain toh tum kal raat ki ticket aaj raat ko lo, toh bhi confirm ho jati hai." On 30th September when I checked the status and well, the status had not moved even a bit, "Wait List 1 to 9" So the phone calls begin. I call up my friend Amit and we decide that one set of tickets I will get done through VIP quota and the second set he will take care of. On 2nd Oct – the night we were to leave, Amit calls and says that his contact is not too confident of getting the tickets confirmed so as a back up we decide to keep 2 innova cars ready just in case the tickets are not done, we will go by road.(BUT WE HAVE TO GO!!!! NO MATTER WAT)By late afternoon, I get a call from Amit saying – "hey vishal has reached from Bombay he knows some agent and can get tickets done in 3rd AC in tatkal" so it was decided that once vishal confirms that he has the tickets in hand we will cancel our tickets. So far all great and cool.8:00 PM – Amit, Praveen and I reach old delhi railway station. The train arrives at 9:25 pm and leaves old delhi railway station at 9:55 pm. So cool. We are soon joined by Rachita and Rituraj, so we decide to get to the platform. As is the norm on railway stations we ask the good old – coolie – "bhaiya masourie express kaun se platform se jati hai" The coolie bhaiya was all helpful thinking he will be getting some good business from us and says – "platform no. 7"So we pick up our bags (all excited as we were going on an adventure trip) and reach platform no. 7 we call up the other members (vishal, sangeen, dhanika and shubhra) and inform them where to come at platform no. 7. While waiting for them, I ask the others if any one had a photo copy of the tickets (that vishal got done in tatkal) so that we could locate the boogie in time. When Rituraj hands over the copy to me I realize that its not 3rd AC but we have been booked in 2nd Sleeper, which is cool (suddenly the memories of my travel from Ahmedabad to Lucknow, 36 hour train journey during summer vacations, flashed in front of my eyes) when I announced this loudly – one of the gals(the blonde of our group) reacted with a typical reaction that we see from a particular group of gals (the femina miss india types, and oh baby my legs hurt, I climbed 2 floors types) – "Eeeee its not AC, how will we go. I am not going. Lets go by AC Innova" By this time I realized what I could be getting into and my face went red with anger and I started talking in my mind to this gal – "Hellllllloooo %#^$%^#$%^ gal, u r going on an adventure trip where u will be staying in tents, where the hell u will find an AC there"Anyways, I was cooled down by Amit. By then I had decided that I will go in 2nd sleeper (cause I wanted to have a decent sleep before the action began at the camp). Soon we were joined by Vishal, Sangeen, Dhanika and Shubhra, and there was a commotion on the station with all of us trying to have our say. Finally it was decided that when the train arrives (which was to in next 5 minutes) we will speak to the TC and see how many berths could be upgraded to any of the AC boogies – AC I, AC II, AC III. 9:25 PM – The train arrives at platform no. 7 and Amit, Praveen, and Vishal go to locate the TC, after sometime they come running saying we have to get into the last AC boogie. The TC has given us berths there. As we all rush towards the last AC boogie – there is this thought in my mind – "if there were berths how the hell, we didn't get a confirmation 20 days before when I booked OR on 30th sept when I checked the status" Anyways we look for the last AC boogie, as NONE of the boogies had proper markings. We get in, locate our berths and the train starts. The food packets come out and all of us introduce ourselves to each other. We cross Gaziabad around 11:00 pm and the attendant comes in with the blankets, - when Vishal (our gujju bhai) asks the attendant – "Bhaiya hum ko mast 9 chaka chak safed chadar nikal ke do" The attendant is quite amused and says "nahi hai" to which Vishal gets up and takes him out saying – "bhaiya main aap ki help karta hun chadar nikal ne main" Just than Praveen also decides to step out with Vishal. After 5 minutes our so I decide to step out too and join them (after a loooooong time was traveling by train and was wanting to just stand at the door and see the electric pools pass by, though it was night time, but am you would understand what it feels like to stand at the door of a fast train with the wind blowing hitting hard on your face J ) .So while Vishal was busy looking for '9 chaka chak safed chadars' I decide to have a conversation with the attendant, and I tell him – "Bhaiya subha 5 baje jab haridwar aaye ga toh hum saabh ko utha dena" The attendant with a very straight face says – "Kanpur". So I innocently tell him again – "nahi nahi jab haridwar aayega" He again with a serious face says – "Kanpur aaye ga". There is silence for 2 seconds and I ask him (this time with a straight face) – "yeah train kaun si hai" and he says – Unchahar Express. (Watttttttttttttt the f@#$$%@$#5k) – that was my reaction and there was an eerie silence so much so that we could not even hear the sound of the train.I open the door of the compartment and tell the other group members – "GUYS WE ARE ON THE WRONG TRAINNNNNNNN!!!!"The rest of the gang members do not believe me thinking am joking (well at situation's like these you realize that at times its better to have a serious image at times J ). So we get the attendant to tell the group the reality. And post that it was total commotion in the compartment... - "shit, how did that happen"...."guys pull the chain" , "but where are we headed" and everyone takes out their phones to get on to the GPRS to figure out where are we headed J J J J J J And than the ever helpful attendant says - "agla station khurja hai, par wahan mat utro, woh aap ke liye safe nahi hai" Aligarh par utro"One of us ask him - "Aligarh kitne baje aaye ga" - Attendant - "Ek baje". By now the reality has sunk in and we all are saying - "ok fine, this happens to people. The bottom line is - WE HAVE TO REACH SHIVPURI TOMORROW MORNING ON TIME. So wats the solution and that's when we wanted to hug the person who invented mobile phone. I as Vishal to call up his contact in Delhi and ask the agent to immediately send 2 Innova Cars to Aligarh. After 10 minutes and 2 phones calls - we are set. 2 Innovas are on their way from Delhi to Aligarh to take us to Shivpuri J J Bas phir kya tha - it was already 12 am - Shubhra's bday - so we celebrated by cutting a cake and laughing on ourselves - 9 mahan hastiyan aur ek galat train.(Thank god our folks were not with us, they would have surely freaked out, specially moms...papa log would have been cool about it)At 1:30 AM we get down at Aligarh railway station and call up our innova drivers who are speeding towards Aligarh to rescue us J J At 03:00 AM our saviours - Devraj & Mahendar arrive. We get on to the innovas and trust me guys from than on our adventure begins - our drive from Aligarh to Shivpuri was no less than a level 6 rapid J J - We left Aligarh around 3:00 - 3:30 and at 11:15 am we were at our camp in shivpuri by ganga mai J J I think Mr. Malya should take Devraj and Mahendar in his Formula 1 team J J And after that we had the time of our lives - Hmmm, well where to begin? Four glorious, adrenalin (and alcohol) fuelled days on the stunning Snow Leopard beach camp by the mighty Ganga river. Mountains steeped in dense, lush greenery all around, sand underfoot, and out in front, the hungry, constant flow of the Ganga, yards from our tent. The camp lies on a bend of the river, giving an unparalleled view upstream to your left, (where the hazy mist would roll down the valley at dusk), before the Ganga sweeps past you away to the right at a 'rapid' pace, its strong currents visible from the beach.
Over 50 of us, all ages, all nationalities, thrill-seeking, nature lovers, converged to produce the time of our lives. Merking (English slang for playing practical jokes on each other) took place at every opportunity, the main culprits being those ultimate pranksters, Karan and Hiranya. Nothing was beyond Karan-dunking people in the river, pouring water over unsuspecting heads, waking people up at any hour of the morning, their (Karan, Vikram, Hiranya & Mohit) energy and enthusiasm to make sure the rest of us enjoyed the trip was truly remarkable. And then came the rapids.
I wasn't prepared for the sheer thrill of rafting, the buzz you get in that split-second after paddling as hard as possible towards a raging wall of water, before you realise, 'uh oh, we're not going to make this', and all of a sudden you're submerged under the raft and everything goes eerily silent, only the gurgle of water around you before the life-jacket forces you back up into the swirling chaos and mass of water puling you this way and that, before, 'where's the raft, are they rocks?' goes through your mind then suddenly something's tapping your arm and it's your mate holding out his oar desperately trying to reach out to you and FINALLY, after what seems like forever but what was probably just a few seconds you're back in control, holding onto the overturned raft and shouting and whooping with satisfaction over what just happened!
Yes, we flipped on the 'Rollercoaster', and what a ride it was!
Add to this, cliff-jumping, gorge-scrambling, kayaking, waterfalls, walking through the forests, volleyball and 'Ganga Panga' on the beach (I really liked that game!), and you only begin to scratch the surface of the action side of the trip. If you loved all things natural, this was the place for you!
Back at the camp throw in a healthy dose of great banter (highly amusing and not too serious conversations about anything and everything) and evenings getting pissed on the beach round a fire talking about the day's events, then maybe throwing a few more people in the water before waking up for an early morning dip (or a bucket of water) feeling refreshed and ready to do it all again, and you begin to get near the feeling in the camp!
The Snow Leopard camp, and all the staff there made for the most perfect venue and occasion for non-stop action and serious amounts of FUN. A special mention on how good the guys working there were: led by Asta, our team of raft instructors and water enthusiasts made sure the rafting and other water-related activity was not only thrilling and varied but also safe. Planning and preparation were the key to this, and I've never seen someone move so fast as to jump back on the rafts and pull the non-swimmers out of the water.
In the camp itself it often felt like we were the only people there, and yet behind the scenes there were people cooking three big meals a day, plus snacks and drinks, and others keeping the tents and the washing areas clean and tidy. Then at night, serving and looking after us and keeping the fire going.
Lastly, the reason I think the trip was so special was down to each and every person there. So many interesting characters and personalities; such enthusiasm, energy and warmth from genuine people who looked out for one another and were willing to go out of their way to ensure Ganga Panga was such a memorable experience. And may be you all will not belive me when I say that for - 3 days we were totally cut off from the world - we didn't know what was happening around us - no electiricity, no newspapers, no network - so now cell phone connection. And trust me when i say this - none of us actually missed anything except for the fact that when we were having a great time we wanted to share it with you all. The last day when we all boarded the train to get back to Delhi - everyone in the train was silent. Not a single word. Cause, the feeling of facing the outside world and the crazy grind and race that we all get into was hitting us and none of us wanted to face it.So that is what the trip was all about. Well the reason why I wrote this loooooooooong mail - was because i wanted to see how many of you would actually go through it - hee hee just joking...the reason is plain and simple - that what an amazing experience it was and that I hope we all will do this trip together some day J J J
Well like they say that you learn from every situation that you face in life. And this trip was all about that - we had sitautions right from day 1 (when the tickets didn't happen - when we boarded the wrong train) but the reason why we throughly enjoyed all of that was cause all of us had this attitude - "Oops we messed up, so what lets enjoy it and there will be a way out" And that exactly how it happened - we enjoyed the moment, the time, the phase. Yes we knew we had messed up, but the reason why we could go through it was cause we just kept calm and enjoyed it and didn't try to blame each other for what had happened.And thats exactly, i guess is what we need to do with our lives - we will mess up in real world - its a natural thing to do, but we can enjoy life only when we take every situation as a process to enjoy and be together rather than getting hyper, frustrated and depressed about itWhen we were in the river and the carzy rapids leaped over us. We could face them cause every one of us realized that they were not alone and that no matter how bad the situation was - there will always be someone to pull you out and up on the boat. The river is like our life - just like the differnt paths that a river takes - our life also goes through the same thing - from its origin (birth) to its final destination - the river faces lots of situations - at times its rocky, at times it flows very fast, at times its turbulent.The raft on this river - depicts us - we have to ride it. The people on the raft - our co-passengers, our instructors are the people we face in our daily life - everyone of them have a role to play. But what matters is that - If you will see the larger picture in life. You will never be a victim of your own environment. J J Our instructor had told us - "when the rapid comes, everyone listen to your instructor, and paddle faster than the spead of the rapid. If you do that you will sail through."And isn't that exactly how our life is -when the rapid comes (which are the difficulties of life) we should listen to our instructor (the god) and since everyone is in it togther (our family and friends) we will be able to sail through it smoothly. All one needs is patience.And so, as they say - the pictures say it all. Here are a few moments from the trip.I hope you all enjoy it.Until we meet. Take care & enjoy life and be happy. Remember to look at the larger picture in life.
Ok, this is a looooooooong one so read it when you have time.Well, I have been meaning to share this with you for the past 2 weeks, but just couldn't get the time to do it…finally over the last 4 days…I have managed to put it all down, and upload the photos from my trip to Shivpuri – with the 'Ganga Panga' gang.Ok now to give you all a small background, well it all started on facebook, where I received an invitation from a friend to join this group. The group was started by 4 set of friends – Mohit Midha, Karan Bhalla, Vikram Bhalla and Hiranya Bharadwaj. Mohit is big time into adventure tourism and has done a lot of work for National Geographic. Anyways, these 4 friends are a riot when they are together, specially Karan, Hiranya and Vikram.So through word of mouth and messages on facebook, there were a total of 37 of us for this trip. The best part of the group was that no single person knew more than 2 people within this group. So the organizers of ganga panga had tied up with Snow Leopard Adventures who are damn good at rafting and stuff…and have their camps in shivpuri right on the banks of the river. Ok,now the action begins, and here is a small story for you all – the main characters of this story are – Amit from delhi (who is with IBN 7 in media sales), Vishal from bombay (who has a garment business and also has a travel agency and organizes weddings in exotic locations) , Rituraj from delhi (is a job consultant), Sangeen from Delhi, Dhanika from Bombay (has 2-3 shops in Bombay of accessories), Rachita from delhi (is with NEO Sports in media sales), Shubhra from delhi (is with MTV in media sales), Praveen from Ahmedabad (who is a banker) and me (with UTV in media sales) JThe trip was from 2nd Oct to 5th Oct. So I booked the tickets a good 20 days in advance in Masourie express for 2nd oct night. Only thing was got the 9 tickets as wait listed, well no harm. Since I was told myself – "Anshu beta do din phone calls karenge aur tickets confirm" J aur waise bhi it was a good 20 days before, and dad told me – "Masourie express. Oh usmain toh tum kal raat ki ticket aaj raat ko lo, toh bhi confirm ho jati hai." On 30th September when I checked the status and well, the status had not moved even a bit, "Wait List 1 to 9" So the phone calls begin. I call up my friend Amit and we decide that one set of tickets I will get done through VIP quota and the second set he will take care of. On 2nd Oct – the night we were to leave, Amit calls and says that his contact is not too confident of getting the tickets confirmed so as a back up we decide to keep 2 innova cars ready just in case the tickets are not done, we will go by road.(BUT WE HAVE TO GO!!!! NO MATTER WAT)By late afternoon, I get a call from Amit saying – "hey vishal has reached from Bombay he knows some agent and can get tickets done in 3rd AC in tatkal" so it was decided that once vishal confirms that he has the tickets in hand we will cancel our tickets. So far all great and cool.8:00 PM – Amit, Praveen and I reach old delhi railway station. The train arrives at 9:25 pm and leaves old delhi railway station at 9:55 pm. So cool. We are soon joined by Rachita and Rituraj, so we decide to get to the platform. As is the norm on railway stations we ask the good old – coolie – "bhaiya masourie express kaun se platform se jati hai" The coolie bhaiya was all helpful thinking he will be getting some good business from us and says – "platform no. 7"So we pick up our bags (all excited as we were going on an adventure trip) and reach platform no. 7 we call up the other members (vishal, sangeen, dhanika and shubhra) and inform them where to come at platform no. 7. While waiting for them, I ask the others if any one had a photo copy of the tickets (that vishal got done in tatkal) so that we could locate the boogie in time. When Rituraj hands over the copy to me I realize that its not 3rd AC but we have been booked in 2nd Sleeper, which is cool (suddenly the memories of my travel from Ahmedabad to Lucknow, 36 hour train journey during summer vacations, flashed in front of my eyes) when I announced this loudly – one of the gals(the blonde of our group) reacted with a typical reaction that we see from a particular group of gals (the femina miss india types, and oh baby my legs hurt, I climbed 2 floors types) – "Eeeee its not AC, how will we go. I am not going. Lets go by AC Innova" By this time I realized what I could be getting into and my face went red with anger and I started talking in my mind to this gal – "Hellllllloooo %#^$%^#$%^ gal, u r going on an adventure trip where u will be staying in tents, where the hell u will find an AC there"Anyways, I was cooled down by Amit. By then I had decided that I will go in 2nd sleeper (cause I wanted to have a decent sleep before the action began at the camp). Soon we were joined by Vishal, Sangeen, Dhanika and Shubhra, and there was a commotion on the station with all of us trying to have our say. Finally it was decided that when the train arrives (which was to in next 5 minutes) we will speak to the TC and see how many berths could be upgraded to any of the AC boogies – AC I, AC II, AC III. 9:25 PM – The train arrives at platform no. 7 and Amit, Praveen, and Vishal go to locate the TC, after sometime they come running saying we have to get into the last AC boogie. The TC has given us berths there. As we all rush towards the last AC boogie – there is this thought in my mind – "if there were berths how the hell, we didn't get a confirmation 20 days before when I booked OR on 30th sept when I checked the status" Anyways we look for the last AC boogie, as NONE of the boogies had proper markings. We get in, locate our berths and the train starts. The food packets come out and all of us introduce ourselves to each other. We cross Gaziabad around 11:00 pm and the attendant comes in with the blankets, - when Vishal (our gujju bhai) asks the attendant – "Bhaiya hum ko mast 9 chaka chak safed chadar nikal ke do" The attendant is quite amused and says "nahi hai" to which Vishal gets up and takes him out saying – "bhaiya main aap ki help karta hun chadar nikal ne main" Just than Praveen also decides to step out with Vishal. After 5 minutes our so I decide to step out too and join them (after a loooooong time was traveling by train and was wanting to just stand at the door and see the electric pools pass by, though it was night time, but am you would understand what it feels like to stand at the door of a fast train with the wind blowing hitting hard on your face J ) .So while Vishal was busy looking for '9 chaka chak safed chadars' I decide to have a conversation with the attendant, and I tell him – "Bhaiya subha 5 baje jab haridwar aaye ga toh hum saabh ko utha dena" The attendant with a very straight face says – "Kanpur". So I innocently tell him again – "nahi nahi jab haridwar aayega" He again with a serious face says – "Kanpur aaye ga". There is silence for 2 seconds and I ask him (this time with a straight face) – "yeah train kaun si hai" and he says – Unchahar Express. (Watttttttttttttt the f@#$$%@$#5k) – that was my reaction and there was an eerie silence so much so that we could not even hear the sound of the train.I open the door of the compartment and tell the other group members – "GUYS WE ARE ON THE WRONG TRAINNNNNNNN!!!!"The rest of the gang members do not believe me thinking am joking (well at situation's like these you realize that at times its better to have a serious image at times J ). So we get the attendant to tell the group the reality. And post that it was total commotion in the compartment... - "shit, how did that happen"...."guys pull the chain" , "but where are we headed" and everyone takes out their phones to get on to the GPRS to figure out where are we headed J J J J J J And than the ever helpful attendant says - "agla station khurja hai, par wahan mat utro, woh aap ke liye safe nahi hai" Aligarh par utro"One of us ask him - "Aligarh kitne baje aaye ga" - Attendant - "Ek baje". By now the reality has sunk in and we all are saying - "ok fine, this happens to people. The bottom line is - WE HAVE TO REACH SHIVPURI TOMORROW MORNING ON TIME. So wats the solution and that's when we wanted to hug the person who invented mobile phone. I as Vishal to call up his contact in Delhi and ask the agent to immediately send 2 Innova Cars to Aligarh. After 10 minutes and 2 phones calls - we are set. 2 Innovas are on their way from Delhi to Aligarh to take us to Shivpuri J J Bas phir kya tha - it was already 12 am - Shubhra's bday - so we celebrated by cutting a cake and laughing on ourselves - 9 mahan hastiyan aur ek galat train.(Thank god our folks were not with us, they would have surely freaked out, specially moms...papa log would have been cool about it)At 1:30 AM we get down at Aligarh railway station and call up our innova drivers who are speeding towards Aligarh to rescue us J J At 03:00 AM our saviours - Devraj & Mahendar arrive. We get on to the innovas and trust me guys from than on our adventure begins - our drive from Aligarh to Shivpuri was no less than a level 6 rapid J J - We left Aligarh around 3:00 - 3:30 and at 11:15 am we were at our camp in shivpuri by ganga mai J J I think Mr. Malya should take Devraj and Mahendar in his Formula 1 team J J And after that we had the time of our lives - Hmmm, well where to begin? Four glorious, adrenalin (and alcohol) fuelled days on the stunning Snow Leopard beach camp by the mighty Ganga river. Mountains steeped in dense, lush greenery all around, sand underfoot, and out in front, the hungry, constant flow of the Ganga, yards from our tent. The camp lies on a bend of the river, giving an unparalleled view upstream to your left, (where the hazy mist would roll down the valley at dusk), before the Ganga sweeps past you away to the right at a 'rapid' pace, its strong currents visible from the beach.
Over 50 of us, all ages, all nationalities, thrill-seeking, nature lovers, converged to produce the time of our lives. Merking (English slang for playing practical jokes on each other) took place at every opportunity, the main culprits being those ultimate pranksters, Karan and Hiranya. Nothing was beyond Karan-dunking people in the river, pouring water over unsuspecting heads, waking people up at any hour of the morning, their (Karan, Vikram, Hiranya & Mohit) energy and enthusiasm to make sure the rest of us enjoyed the trip was truly remarkable. And then came the rapids.
I wasn't prepared for the sheer thrill of rafting, the buzz you get in that split-second after paddling as hard as possible towards a raging wall of water, before you realise, 'uh oh, we're not going to make this', and all of a sudden you're submerged under the raft and everything goes eerily silent, only the gurgle of water around you before the life-jacket forces you back up into the swirling chaos and mass of water puling you this way and that, before, 'where's the raft, are they rocks?' goes through your mind then suddenly something's tapping your arm and it's your mate holding out his oar desperately trying to reach out to you and FINALLY, after what seems like forever but what was probably just a few seconds you're back in control, holding onto the overturned raft and shouting and whooping with satisfaction over what just happened!
Yes, we flipped on the 'Rollercoaster', and what a ride it was!
Add to this, cliff-jumping, gorge-scrambling, kayaking, waterfalls, walking through the forests, volleyball and 'Ganga Panga' on the beach (I really liked that game!), and you only begin to scratch the surface of the action side of the trip. If you loved all things natural, this was the place for you!
Back at the camp throw in a healthy dose of great banter (highly amusing and not too serious conversations about anything and everything) and evenings getting pissed on the beach round a fire talking about the day's events, then maybe throwing a few more people in the water before waking up for an early morning dip (or a bucket of water) feeling refreshed and ready to do it all again, and you begin to get near the feeling in the camp!
The Snow Leopard camp, and all the staff there made for the most perfect venue and occasion for non-stop action and serious amounts of FUN. A special mention on how good the guys working there were: led by Asta, our team of raft instructors and water enthusiasts made sure the rafting and other water-related activity was not only thrilling and varied but also safe. Planning and preparation were the key to this, and I've never seen someone move so fast as to jump back on the rafts and pull the non-swimmers out of the water.
In the camp itself it often felt like we were the only people there, and yet behind the scenes there were people cooking three big meals a day, plus snacks and drinks, and others keeping the tents and the washing areas clean and tidy. Then at night, serving and looking after us and keeping the fire going.
Lastly, the reason I think the trip was so special was down to each and every person there. So many interesting characters and personalities; such enthusiasm, energy and warmth from genuine people who looked out for one another and were willing to go out of their way to ensure Ganga Panga was such a memorable experience. And may be you all will not belive me when I say that for - 3 days we were totally cut off from the world - we didn't know what was happening around us - no electiricity, no newspapers, no network - so now cell phone connection. And trust me when i say this - none of us actually missed anything except for the fact that when we were having a great time we wanted to share it with you all. The last day when we all boarded the train to get back to Delhi - everyone in the train was silent. Not a single word. Cause, the feeling of facing the outside world and the crazy grind and race that we all get into was hitting us and none of us wanted to face it.So that is what the trip was all about. Well the reason why I wrote this loooooooooong mail - was because i wanted to see how many of you would actually go through it - hee hee just joking...the reason is plain and simple - that what an amazing experience it was and that I hope we all will do this trip together some day J J J
Well like they say that you learn from every situation that you face in life. And this trip was all about that - we had sitautions right from day 1 (when the tickets didn't happen - when we boarded the wrong train) but the reason why we throughly enjoyed all of that was cause all of us had this attitude - "Oops we messed up, so what lets enjoy it and there will be a way out" And that exactly how it happened - we enjoyed the moment, the time, the phase. Yes we knew we had messed up, but the reason why we could go through it was cause we just kept calm and enjoyed it and didn't try to blame each other for what had happened.And thats exactly, i guess is what we need to do with our lives - we will mess up in real world - its a natural thing to do, but we can enjoy life only when we take every situation as a process to enjoy and be together rather than getting hyper, frustrated and depressed about itWhen we were in the river and the carzy rapids leaped over us. We could face them cause every one of us realized that they were not alone and that no matter how bad the situation was - there will always be someone to pull you out and up on the boat. The river is like our life - just like the differnt paths that a river takes - our life also goes through the same thing - from its origin (birth) to its final destination - the river faces lots of situations - at times its rocky, at times it flows very fast, at times its turbulent.The raft on this river - depicts us - we have to ride it. The people on the raft - our co-passengers, our instructors are the people we face in our daily life - everyone of them have a role to play. But what matters is that - If you will see the larger picture in life. You will never be a victim of your own environment. J J Our instructor had told us - "when the rapid comes, everyone listen to your instructor, and paddle faster than the spead of the rapid. If you do that you will sail through."And isn't that exactly how our life is -when the rapid comes (which are the difficulties of life) we should listen to our instructor (the god) and since everyone is in it togther (our family and friends) we will be able to sail through it smoothly. All one needs is patience.And so, as they say - the pictures say it all. Here are a few moments from the trip.I hope you all enjoy it.Until we meet. Take care & enjoy life and be happy. Remember to look at the larger picture in life.
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