Everything is in Rishikesh. Yoga ashrams, temples, Ganga Maiya, natural beauty, adventure sports like trekking, water sports like rafting, camping.
So you will find everything from families, newly married couples, foreign tourists, hippies, sadhu-babas here. But one thing you will definitely see and that is a group of friends.
Being close to Delhi, corporate employees working in Delhi-Gurgaon must come here to have a picnic. Apart from them, youngsters from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh also reach here with their cars.
Once I and some of my knowledgeable friends reached Rishikesh by taking such a vehicle. To reach Rishikesh by road, one has to take Delhi-Dehradun-Haridwar route. 21 km from Rishikesh if you go by train. There is a big station in Haridwar, from where you can take a taxi-bus to anything. It is about 41 km from here to come by air. You will have to land at Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun.
For those going by road, the advantage is that you can also stop at Dehradun and Haridwar on the way. After an 11-hour journey from Jaipur to Rishikesh, we stopped the car at a hotel near the bus stand and took a room and slept. After having a light breakfast at a nearby cafe at 1 am, we reached the rafting office directly on the roadside.
In Rishikesh, you will find offices of many companies for rafting. Everyone’s rates are almost fixed, but if you go in a group, you can bargain and get a discount on the package.
Before telling the story of rafting, let me tell you something about rafting. Rafting involves taking a ride in an inflatable boat in a fast-flowing river. The rapid flow of the river looks white after hitting the stones up and down the path. Hence it is also called white water rafting.
First Information About Rafting in Rishikesh
The place where the stream of the river meets the big rocks and the water falls rapidly up and down, that place is called rapid. These rapids are very dangerous because there is a danger of the raft capsizing.
Rapids around the world are divided into 5 grades on the scale of danger.
Grade 1:- These rapids can be easily traversed. Above them, the land of the river remains flat. There are 4 first grade rapids in Rishikesh: Black Money, Sweet Sixteen, Good Morning, Body Surfing.
Second Grade:- These are a little more difficult than the first, but even after a little effort, the raft can be floated. There are 4 second grade rapids in Rishikesh: Club House, Initiation, Double Trouble, Hilton, Terminator.
Third Grade: These rapids test you well. If you don’t know how to steer a raft, or you don’t have a skilled raft with you, your raft will capsize. There are 6 grade 3 rapids in Rishikesh: Shivpuri Rapid, Three Blind Mice, Cross Fire, Roller Coaster, Golf Course, Return to Sander.
4th Grade:- In these rapids, no matter how skilled you are, your boat will capsize. Rishikesh has only 2 grade 4 rapids: Daniel’s Deep and The Great Wall
5th Grade:- In these rapids, God save us. If the raft overturns, all the bones and jaws will break after hitting the rocks. Ganga will drag you into her bosom, and then your corpse will be dragged out.
Every rafting office has boards giving information about these grades, so that people like me will have a change of heart after seeing them.
Distances for rafting in Rishikesh are also fixed differently. Waterway from Brahmapuri to Rishikesh is 1 km. का है and is completed in one and a half to two hours. 16 km from Shivpuri to Rishikesh. The distance is covered in three-and-a-half hours. 27 km on the way to Rishikesh from Marine Drive. The route takes four and a half to five hours and Kaudiala to Rishikesh is completed in about 36 hours.
Now Let’s Move on to The Dangerous Experience
After reading about the grades of the rapids, I went 1 km. Wale wanted to do rafting on easy way. But in every group there are some people who love boasting more than their own lives. At that time, the group also mixes the yes-me-yes of such people.
I have read a lot about the Ganges and I know the power of water very well, so when my friends asked me to run 36 km. When asked to walk on the path, I refused with great love. Now that I think about it, I think that one experience of mine saved my life.
As soon as the friends chose the route, the rafting man put the friends in his jeep, tied the raft on the roof of the car, put paddles, life jackets in the trunk and started 41 km by road. It took him far away to Kaudiala. I wandered back and forth in yoga ashrams, whose story I will tell again sometime. After coming back, listening to the story told by friends, my soul trembled.
According to the story told by friends, after reaching Kaudiala, everyone sat in the raft wearing life jackets. A trained and experienced guide from the rafting company sits with you in the raft, instructing you on how to paddle and navigate the rapids.
Behind the raft, one or two people swim in kayaks, so that if the raft capsizes, people can be saved from drowning in the water.
Look at the bravery of the companions, the first thing is that they chose the longest and fourth grade route and the second is that four people carried a quarter bottle together. Alcohol is also illegal in Rishikesh, and how can you get drunk during an adventure sport where you have to be sober? Before sitting in the raft, everyone finished the quarter and then sat in the Mad Mein Chur raft.
There are 13 rapids on the way from Kaudiala to Rishikesh. After crossing the first few rapids, the raft overturned as soon as it reached the rapid named ‘The Wall’. As soon as the raft overturned, all the companions scattered. Someone began to flow somewhere, someone else. Three people were somehow managed by the kayakers to the rope tied to the raft, but there was no sign of the fourth. He was the one who instigated everyone to choose the path of Kaudiala and also put two feet.
After putting the raft ashore and looking around for a while, the raft was again lowered into the water and the kayakers hurriedly paddled forward to find the fourth one. Many people have died while rafting. So the kayakers were trying to find the body of their friend wrapped in an orange jacket.
Four and a half four km. After driving till the raft, another raft was seen on the far shore on which people were playing whistles tied to their jackets. There were also kayakers around this raft. When the companions called Ram and looked in the second raft, they saw the fourth boy sitting. Those on the other raft said that they saw this boy floating in the river with his mouth up. He was saved from drowning due to the life jacket and was lucky that his unconscious face was not in the water.
The frightened boy refused to raft further. The rafting company ordered a jeep and took it back to Rishikesh separately. After a few hours, the other three also came to Rishikesh’s office while slowly rafting.
After this accident, that fourth friend did not open his mouth all the way. There is a lot of power in water If you ever go for rafting, choose the route wisely. A person who is crushed in ego loses his intelligence.
If you want to live in this world for a long time and enjoy the beauty here, then leave your ego and work with your mind.
Have you heard anything like this? Be sure to tell us in the comments so that our other tourists can take lessons and get around in a better way.
