Rishikesh amity!

Rishikesh (river rafting end spot)

Here, I embarked to the journey, which will lead me to eradicate my worst fears that I nurtured. Wandering to Rishikesh was my longing ever since I went for my schooling to Ranikhet, Uttarakhand. My vacation was on the line, continuously hauling me to take an excursion to the holy place, where yogis go to meditate since the age-old times. Enveloped in the northern Himalayas of India lies the Rishikesh, 25kms above Haridwar, where river Ganga takes a detour and fetch its holy water to millions of people in which Rishikesh is also one of the fortuitous places.

In this excursion, I was travelling with my parents alongside another family, who were accompanying with us on the trip. We were about to commence our adventure to Rishikesh from Delhi, but the goods deeds weren’t over yet, when I asked my father, standing down to the hotel reception that what is our ride? He yanked me to the foyer of the hotel and startled me by introducing to our Sports Utility- that was Audi Q5 and that too without a driver, an extra add-on feature provided by my dad to me, which means that the wheels are my property for this trip, Oh! I love my dad, on the contrary, my mom was not happy with that decision- me driving on the hills but my father convinced her.

We started drifting towards the north from Delhi, riding in a hurricane, exploring the greenery of our planet, waving to small villages & whoever passes by. A minuscule medley too started between my car and the other family’s car who was travelling with us saying- “let’s see who reaches first to the destination”. After a few seconds of speeding up to 155 km/hr, a harsh sound came from the rear, that was my mother, claiming to slow down and should touch brakes also. So I hurried towards the brakes and brought the hulk to 120 km/hr. But the highway was endless and my adventurous feeling again took a rise up to the accelerator and this time, I was astounded by my dad, so this is how I lost a battle.

Driving five hours uphill, we have taken a halt in Haridwar, Where we joined the ‘Maha-Arti’ near the banks of river Ganga, filled our stomach with lovely parathas and finished our drive to Rishikesh.

Around 10, we checked-in to a hotel, unpacked our suitcases and took a deep sleep. I woke up at dawn, to see the beautiful sunrise from the terrace, the sun was dazzling at me with its magnificent light rays which invigorates my soul and gave nothing but peace. We had delicious ‘Puri Sabji & Poha’ in our breakfast table, we ate light because a frightful adventure activity was expecting us.

DAY- 01 River rafting, the name itself suggests the amount of thrill, we were going to experience, there is no need to detail about what is river rafting, but let me tell you that in Rishikesh, this adventurous activity is divided into 3 levels. Each level has a distinctive distance, to the endpoint (Ram Jhula). Level 1 consists of 6kms, level 2- 12kms and level 3- 24kms. we took the middle slot considering the movement of water was higher than the usual and to avoid the risk of falling.

Companions

The instructor gave us an ample amount of fears before leaving the starting point, for our sake as people take this activity lightly as a result, often they end up drowning themselves in the water due to the treacherous waves. We mounted the boat with the fears bubbling to the top alongside a great feeling of enthusiasm to encounter those inevitable horrors. The instructor insured our legs tightened to the corners of the boat, hands equipped with carbon paddles, helmets- on, life jackets- on. After carefully understanding the instructions we got the green signal from the instructor. We left the starting point and started rafting towards the end, ripping away the waves with our paddles, I was seated at the first place so I have to paddle faster than others on-board, as rapid was about to come, we can all measure our fears especially my mom, she was too terrified by the rapids, but my father consoling her with his warm words and here we collided to the fasted waves, hurray! our boat was upon the waves, the bow was facing the sky and everyone sitting was drifting a back slowly, its due to the instructions and safety measures, our boat didn’t fall back. Confronting the largest rapid, everyone on board was catching their breaths and consoling each other, enthusiastically approaching the next wave, paddling with full devotion, annihilating our fears, by compassing each wave our self-confidence grew stronger and harder.

Evidently, when we were done with river rafting, we appreciated each other, patted our backs and checked in to our respective rooms, for a good sleep. we all woke in the evening, wandered around the town, taking pictures of the Lakshman Ghula, visited the holy Shiva temple, had an everlasting dinner in Chotiwala restaurant.

DAY- 02 The unforgettable day of my life was this one when I was actually assassinating my worst of all fears of my life that is- ‘the fear of heights.’ The next day, after we all woke up had our breakfast, rode our respective trailers and began moving towards the deadly, horrifying bungee jumping spot named ‘Jumping Heights’, which was 19kms away from Rishikesh. When I reached the spot, I saw at least 4 jumps and made up my mind not to enrol in such haunting activity. My dad literally dragged me towards the reception as he is not afraid of any kind of phobia, but the fact our adults couldn’t do the thrill is due to the mountain climbing, after doing a bungee jump, one has to climb the whole mountain, and it was huge, so everyone got the excuse, only I was left behind and a girl from the other family, whom I teasingly call ‘Manuji’. She agreed to take upon the risk and entered her name in the reception register. As soon as she registered her name, my dad looked at me and said- ‘Don’t cut my nose in front of the other family’, you have to do it, otherwise, forget driving. I was not in a position to negotiate with my father over driving so, I also agreed to sign on my death warrant. The reception of jumping heights and the jumping bar was 500m traverse each other, we have to walk up to the bar and show our tickets. That 500m walk was terrifying me from the inside, my body temperature was literally rising high, the heart was pumping fast, as soon as I approached the door and showed the security my ticket and entered the suicide zone.

There I was standing 10m apart from my confirmed death, and I found Tanuji still fighting with me to go first. I told her- If you shout, I will not be able to perform the jump. After seconds of arguing she agreed and I won. I reached the second last step of jumping, where they tie rope an insures every part of your body. I was tied up with green utensils and a white, thick rope. The instructors in jumping heights were trained from Newzealand, I was assured by them, one of the guys among the instructor told me if you want to back off, back off now! but additionally, he said if you do this, you will be dancing on the ground after the jump. Hence, you will achieve your victory over your fears and damn he was right.

Last step of the jumping, standing seconds away from diving into the world. When I was tied up with the rope and related security measure were taken. I stood, one of the instructors guided me through the last ultimate stop where my half of the foot was exposed to the no bar zone, the instructor told me- ‘don’t look down’ just stay calm and when I say jump, you must jump. Those words were charismatic to me as I felt more console and ease. As soon as I heard jump, I just forget the world, murmuring ‘Jai Hanuman’, just like a swimmer who dive into the water, I imitated the same action and jumped off the bar, as quick as fast the instructor told me to jump.

I was getting down deeper and deeper into the Earth, 80m…..65m…….50m. shouting like hell, memorising it like- I saw a monster on the way down to the ground. When I finished the main jump the fringe of the rope was not over, it again pulled me back, then I shouted again but this time I worded differently. I was screaming- “I did it” “I did it” “yes” “I did it”, something related to the ‘Eureka experience’.

Finally, when the fringe was over, I reached the ground, the helpers were there, waiting for my arrival, they helped me pull myself out of the rope, they acknowledged me with appreciations, a small supper which includes a water bottle alongside a batch saying- “I have got guts” and a packet of biscuits. Sitting on a rough, scratchy, gigantic stone retaining whatever I did, past few moments, acknowledging my father who forced me to do this thrill and extremely excited to spat out my experience of the jump to my whole family, and to the world that is nothing but social media.

As I climbed the whole 90m uphill mountain, in a single breath, you can all supposedly can measure my excitement, the amount of breath per minute I was taking at the moment, it was simply countless and the experience too was unforgettable. After a thirsty climb, my mom received me with a hug, my uncle and aunt also patted my back but also waiting for their daughter’s arrival and I am sure that her reaction was indifferent as mine. I yanked to my dad, excitedly to share my experience of the horrific jump, proudly, who was collecting my jumping video from the reception and having a closure look to my fears. In my whole life, the first time he proudly patted my back and said- ‘son, this is an achievement you have gain out of your fears, keep it up.’ I was too proud at the moment, I can’t express. Let me tell you that, he never appeared in my school meetings, you can assume my report cards from the statement above. I saw the video, giving an outstanding clap to myself while watching the “horror’s death”.

We stopped over a Dhabba to linger our stomachs with a delicious meal, we didn’t stop talking about our jumps, Tanuji was even more excited than me sharing her experience with others, replying socially. My tablet was filled with the appreciations from the social world, which I was inspecting throughout my meal.

I was too tired after a pleasant day, I guided myself to the hotel room and maid another jump on my bed. The very next day, we all woke up had our breakfast and headed to our capital city “Delhi”.

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