Pavani Chithari“We don’t have to carry much stuff, just a pair of clothes”, said Sandy. Where are we going this time? I asked joining the group. “Car and slot are blocked, we should reach there by 8’o clock”, said Abhi. Where are we going? I screamed, unable to hold the excitement anymore, dreaming of hills, clouds, sunrise…. but we will miss sunrise if we go by 8’o clock. “9 members fixed, no addition or subtraction”, confirmed Sandy. “We have to carry snacks as well”, said Harika. But where are we going guys??? and you both, pointing finger at me & Harika; wake up early and get ready by 5’o clock and everyone should assemble at the gate, said Sandy. O.K. now tell me whe…. Slok asking whether shoes are necessary, confused, and asked what? Are you going to trek without shoes? Who told you that we are going to trek? said Slok. Abhi continued, we will better carry shoes, we might finish it early and can visit some other place. Search nearby places to visit then. No! first search for sunset points said Shiva. Everyone inserted their heads in phones and I am still guessing the place but nothing seems to relate with the requirements and everyone is busy browsing places. Tapping Sandy’s shoulder and asked where are we going? no cancellation now everything is blocked, said Sandy. Exhaling! I won’t drop but tell me where are we planning to go? I am creating a WhatsApp group and will share all the details, just go through it, said Sandy. But he is still searching for sunset point and Shiva screamed! this place looks amazing we’ll go here; it is nearby and pictures are damn good. My phone vibrated notifying a group created, “KUNDALIKA RIVER RAFTING”.
Rafting ??? few parts of my brain turned off immediately. Typing Kundalika and tapped on the 1st option. No! no! no! I can’t do this; I am going to tell them that I can’t join this trip and the view in this picture has started twisting my intestines already. Sound of water, screams and scariest part rapids! I can’t.
Want to watch any relevant videos??? My brain insisted, No! just go with the flow, I told to myself.
Phone buzzing! It is 4:00 AM, I know Sandy will never trust us. I am already up and getting ready! I screamed into my phone. Comm’n sleepyhead we have to go, Harika staring at me with half eyes closed, yay! rafting! Oh god! why did she announce it so loud, my mind was still sleeping, now it will kill me from inside. We joined everyone waiting for us at the gate and choosing window seats to enjoy Pune’s weather.
Fresh morning breeze flowing through the open windows, mild blue sky struggling to wake up, and the sun still hiding in the blanket of clouds, trees passing and waving their wings along the curvy roads throughout the length. Approach road is steep, signboards started appearing, few vehicles already parked. But I can’t see any stream here. Checking the instructions, “separate vehicle is provided to reach the spot”, we have to get into our rafting outfit before taking the local vehicle. It’s a 7-seater vehicle carrying a large tube tied with ropes on top of the vehicle. That is going to be our vehicle in the stream. Is it in good condition? What if it gets in contact with a sharp object? What if it tears off in the middle of the ride?
Feet creating impressions touching the granular wet mud, feeling the presence of fresh air carrying the coldness, following the crowd diverting into their groups, phones raising towards the sky to capture all the nervous, excited, and adventurous smiles! Light blue fluid peeking through the trees slipping and rolling due to gravity, lined with bushes and trees. Far away a very old tree is bent touching the flow, cherishing the good old friendship.
Everything is beautiful until I heard a whistle alarming my fear.
Searching for the source of the sound, a man with a whistle in his mouth blowing, waving his hand, and gathering people around him. We started walking towards the sound, waiting, and staring at him to start his talk. He’s happy with the crowd, “Hello guys…are you excited for the ride?” crowd screaming yes! Nervously thinking whether I am ready. “Listen to the instructions carefully”, this is what I want, to survive. “You will be given a life jacket and helmet, do check and wear it correctly. Handle the paddle carefully by holding the T grip on one side and do pay attention to your guide’s commands during rafting. Maintain perfect balance and by chance, if you fell out of the boat do not panic and try to swim towards the boat or nearby boats or to the shore.” But I don’t know swimming, how will I manage… and why will I fall or jump in the water, I am gonna stick my bum tightly to the boat?
All of a sudden, my body started feeling weightless and tummy contracting with nervousness. Following our guide and reached our boat, wearing my jacket and tightening it; asking Harika to check whether I did it correctly or not, she noticed my nervousness, I guess. Neatly tucking my bun under the helmet, fixing it in place. Guide handing over the paddles one by one. Everyone’s face glowing with excitement as if a joystick is given to their hands and observing it keenly as if it had power boost buttons. Nervously holding the paddle; staring at my guide, this guy is so thin, how will he manage us? Will he be able to risk his life if something happens? What if he jumps off to help someone and leaves others at risk? Will he be able to pull the guys into the boat if someone falls? “All set for the ride guys” he screamed scanning our gang. “You guys are 9 members so we will distribute equally, 4 on both sides and one can sit in the middle”, raised my hand immediately, handing over the paddle to the guide and happily deleting all the commands from my database.
Waiting for my turn to step on the floating plastic balloon and trying not to focus on the flow, it’s like stepping on the wet plastic cover and you know, you will slip or fall anytime. Moving my head from right to left and left to right as my friends started swapping their seats to maintain perfect balance. Instructions are never-ending, The guide explaining the seating position, tucking our feet under the belts provided at our feet for better grip. “Middle one should hold the rope tightly,” he said. Twisting the rope multiple times around my hand and holding it tightly. I won’t let go of this rope even if my blood circulation stops. I can already notice the contrary temperature within and outside. Suddenly, a splash of chilled water on one side of my body turned back and one more right on my face. “Common guys, chill, calm yourself down and let’s begin our trials now”, he screamed his heart out splashing the water and introducing everyone to the river. Thanking him for making me realize how nervous I am.
Watching my friends whether they are following the commands correctly or not. What if the guide forgets commands? Or give any false command? His experience might have given dreams about rafting and he might scream these commands in sleep!
Cheers around and moving with the downstream waves, my view is straight into the flow which is making me more nervous and I am not ready for any rapids now. “Here comes our first rapid, in!”, guide screamed, everyone moved inside. what am I supposed to do? are there any commands for people in the middle? What if I flip over to the front? Seeing maximum flow with maximum waves, it’s here… closed my eyes tightly, holding my rope tightly, moving along the heavy waves with heavy breathing and splashes of water from all the directions filling my ears as I am the only one who’s exposed to those hungry waves completely.
Shiva and Abhi back in action and I realized that I missed one command and still in the hangover of the 1st rapid, “ready for the next one?” everyone screaming along with the guide. Second rapid is too harsh hitting with more force than the first one and conveying that it’s going to be intense further. A question popped up in my mind, how many rapids are still there? Someone behind is asking the same question, I am not able to figure out the tone and can hear words and understand that my question popped up in someone’s mind too. 12 in total, said the guide. 10 more to go!
Third rapid partially wiped off my fear turning into excitement and fourth rapid went right into my eyes; injecting thrill into my body. “Still water ahead, you guys can get down and have fun”, said guide. Area widening making the flow more stable, and one after the other everyone jumped except Vikas, that number of rapids question might have popped up in Vikas’s mind. Slok started posing staring at guide and guide calling everyone to capture the moments with a camera that is fixed to his helmet. Trials began to pull us into the water but guide saved us calling everyone inside to move further and informed that we can swim more after few rapids.
Guide pointing at everyone and making us stand on the edge of the tube, lifting the paddles towards the sky, it’s kind of group hug before we do something exciting. Laughter and screams filled in further rounds, my gang is no longer waiting for commands now, in fact, they are instructing each other and screaming the commands in sync with the guide. I can sense that proud feeling of guide. Everyone’s focus shifted to a tiny boat in some distance with upper body exposing and lower body tucked inside the socket of boat perfectly, rotating his hands and enjoying himself alone. He splashed the water with his paddle hurting Gaurav’s ego and Gaurav attacked him immediately by shifting his place for more destruction, my gamer friends attacked him unitedly by splashing water. His tiny boat might have filled with water.
Diverging into a large area again, I am not ready for the next action and I know I will be pushed and no one can save me now. It is Vikas turn first, he failed trying his level best. It’s my turn now and I surrendered immediately. Floating with one hand still holding the rope tied around the edge of the boat and one hand is with Harika. She felt happy after pulling me away from the boat and scattered. Swimming around and corner of my eye is fixed to the boat, Vikas started doing the same. Expert swimmers are showing their skills. Guide is rotating his head in all directions to capture all the happiness swimming around. Spotted Harika chilling around; Sandy and Slok right behind her carefully planning their strategy without her notice, I know the next action and in no time Harika’s head is inside the water, fighting herself back and I realized that I screamed welcoming those cunning smiles towards me. No! no! I closed my mouth as soon as it touched the surface of the water, a light green view blocked all my senses.
Floating around and approaching guide, “bro what’s the depth of this place”, I asked. “Around 50–60ft”, he said. My head banged imagining that I’m floating in a 60ft depth water. Why can’t I just shut my mouth?
The height of the boat seemed tough to get in on my own. “Bro I want to get inside, please pull me in”, I asked. Pushing myself up realizing my weight which is soaked with the additional weight, guide pulling me holding the shoulder part of the jacket. Why he’s pulling my jacket? What if my jacket comes off and I go down to 20ft?
Finally, I landed on my back facing the sky, after his efforts. My legs crossed on the edge of the boat and staring the light blue sky. What if it rains? I got up to break my thoughts. Monitoring my friends around, noticing a rope tied with the supports after some distance. “Bro why there’s rope tied there”, I asked the guide. “The depth beyond the rope is around 80ft-100ft”, he said. Why the hell Harika is going towards the rope, shouting out Abhi’s name as he is nearer to Harika, he responded immediately. He’s going behind Harika and got hold of her jacket. They both are swimming towards the boat and trials began to get everyone inside the boat, none of them landed perfectly!
Few boats caught our speed, Thaman using his entire force to make our boat move close to the boat with beautiful smiles and other guys followed and those common cheers excited us that one among them is just like us! Water wars started and enemies are spotted, people using various techniques to attack each other till the endpoint.
Everyone started getting down and helping guide to reach the top with the boat. Heading back to life on land after 2 and a half hours. Standing at the edge of the endpoint, staring back at the flow and letting “rafting” flow out through my bucket list! I noticed the same thrilled expression on Vikas face too.
We reached a small place to refuel our engines. Ordered omelette’s and pav. After 20mins an old woman hardly able to walk came out with one pav and one omelette, we knew our hunger would burn our souls by the time nine people food is prepared. Harika & me took charge of the kitchen and guys helped themselves in serving and distributing.
We came out with our food and Sandy started discussing a plan again and turned his head towards me and asked “what’s say Pooja?” I stopped chewing my food because I just heard “Rafting during rains”.
