How i wished to be a part of Commanders team for rafting....i would have loved to go into the water under a toppled raft.....
...well, to bring everyone to the same page, i am talking about our recent offsite to Dandeli, a small wild life sanctuary in the Goa Karnataka border....this was the second time i went to Dandeli with my office colleagues...the first one being an excursion in the second year of my college...and Dandeli awed me every time i went there....the trips secured special corner in my heart on both the occasions, and for entirely different set of reasons....as u all would know...college was 'college'...we had a tremendous time living in tents...going out for night safaris...trying to scare our fellow tent mates...imaginary ghostly encounters....unbelievable ghost stories wrapped with carefully trimmed words during campfire....getting bonded in a wonderful relation with the entire batch including teachers, and attendants which we cherish till date, the local dog which we named 'dhol', and the lunch with 'parshe maach aar bhaat', which we nomenclated as'bon parshe'.....and most importantly, the hobby and a love that i coined for myself- bird watching; which i continue to propagate till date...my husband is my latest disciple in this matter....the list goes on....
..... but our office trip was no less different in terms of the fun we had....there had been differences off course...different age groups, different backgrounds, different stage of life, different socio economic scenario....i realized the difference time made to me from 2005 to 2010....i cut the philosophical thread short....we stayed in a wonderful resort near Kali river....Kali is a small seasonal river controlled by a Dam....in recent times, to attract tourists, an adventure sporting camp got set up....they mostly conduct rafting ( level 2 and 3)...kayaking, fishing, boating, swimming, natural jaccuzi, coracle ride etc etc....i was interested in rafting....this was the first time for me....and i was super excited....we actually had to sign bonds before we took on the sport that we were doing it voluntarily and the camp would not be responsible for any accidents..blah blah blooh blooh...i entered my husbands number in the register to contact him incase of unforseen events...heart of hearts, i was pretty confident that nothing is gonna happen to me....we were all in life jackets and helmets, i knew swimming...even if i get into the water, i would probably float with the current and eventually land in some far away place....people in south India are good and well mannered.....they respect women...i was probably drawing the probability wire too long...except the fear that one of the 3 crocodiles might come and accept me as their lunch, there was really nothing that i could prepare myself with...8 of us got in a raft, myself and Baisakhi were at the end and closest to the guide...6 other fellows from HR took the front seats...guess the seats are allocated based on the weight of a person....the guide confirmed that rivers in Karnataka are mostly infested with crocodiles and Kali was no exception...as i told u earlier, the river had 3 crocs....1 big, measuring 10 feet and 2 small ones, around 5/6 fts...but he assured that they were happy with their piscivorous diet and have never come close to humans with an intention to attack till date...this information was quite relaxing....we pulled the raft to the mid river...it was demo time....what to do if a raft topples? how to stay together...to pull teams back to the raft...how to keep oneself afloat etc etc safety protocols to follow....after the theoritical lecture..it was time for practicals.... i was the braveheart who volunteered to give a live demo.....i plunged into the dark black waters of Kali....Prashanth followed me and dived in....as the name says it all, Kali had real 'kali' water....the black lap of the river was enough to make him jittery....seeing him afraid, i also got scared for some time, and immediately swam away from him to get back my senses...one by one most of our fellow raftmates tasted the scare and fun of being in water... we all swam in groups encircling our raft....i am not capable enough to frame the experience in words...so i leave it to my memory and your imagination....we got back to our raft in our positions...and it was time for THE adventure.....
the entire stretch of rafting was of 9 kms with 8 rapids, the first being of grade 3 and the rest of grade 2 in terms of impact or the plunge in height and depth of the water flow...we cut through the water towards the first rapid...we were in "on your toes" position...the sheet of water below our raft encapsulated a big chunk of a steep rock and took a deep dive, dragging the raft with it in a -45 degree trajectory.... in an equal and opposite reaction to our plunge, another wave leaped on us from the front leaving us wet and dripping....we had crossed the first rapid, the most exciting one in the entire stretch....we all cheered for ourselves for accomplishing this...it was like winning against force, not with force but with strategy...i again say, the experience is to be felt and i feel handicapped that i cannot describe the same...since there was no one to capture it in camera, i fall back on my memory....
...the water flowed on a rough rocky terrain....the guide told us that in past, it was a mine area for digging Zinc and Magnesium ores...the area underwent numerous blasts leaving the river bed daggered...now the water flows on it and is laden with minerals and not only it was potable, but also very good for health...probably that is what we mean by mineral water....the water was very clear and nad no signs of stagnation anywhere...as a result, we could not spot any patch of slippery algae reducing its transparency....we could see through it till the river bed...the journey was dotted with mini rapids followed by stretch of leisurly water circulation....which was very relaxing after bouts of adrenalin bursts at the rapids...we spotted several birds, hornbills, cuckoo and serpent eagles....and proceeded towards the end of the trip.
this was the story of my raft....not that i did not enjoy it, but i guess the experience would have been more peppered if i had gone with Commander....to introduce to all, Commander is the Head of Facility at Wells Fargo India....we all call him Commander coz he is an ex serviceman retiring from the Indian Navy...this is my personal blog and i take the liberty to express my frank opinion...there is a thing about these defence force folks which i really like...i come from a civil background..i got to know the other side of life only after my marriage...my father-in-law is from the Indian Airforce...and when i say that, i say it with a lot of pride...they have lived life in a different way altogether...and i have a lot of respect for all those folks serving the nation in defence...and i instantly gel with them the moment i get to know...and somehow, probably they spend their life away from home, the fellow defence mates are like their relatives..they welcome them with open hearts....my relation with Commander was no different....though our roads hardly cross in terms of work, and we hardly interact in office, i like commander a lot...he and my father-in-law would have loved each others company...but that friendship cant be established now...anyways, coming back to the beds of Kali, i got to know that Commander's raft toppled....they were crossing some rapid when the accident happened....all the 8 raftmates including the guide was in water....they later got together back in the raft...the fact ends in these 2 lines...but try and read between the lines....i close my eyes to imagine, to feel how it would have been if i were there....i would love to meet with an accident like this :)
