Hrishikesh

We vacationed in Hrishikesh (I somehow don’t like spelling it as Rishikesh) and Auli for our honeymoon (Now don’t go getting ideas!). To be frank the primary reason for choosing these destinations was because we did not have the moolah to fund the cliché holiday to Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives or Mauritius. But in all fairness Auli and Hrishikesh turned out to be a fantastic idea.

We started out on our journey from Mumbai to Delhi. And to our utter frustration Sahara cancelled our flight. As so often is the case with this besahara airline, we had to buy tickets off the counter on a Jet airways flight. Being the pessimist that I am, I thought this was only the beginning. I was right to a certain extent, as you will find out.

Delhi airport was amusing. As my husband went on his hundredth bathroom break, I stood waiting for the luggage to arrive. Consider this, one resident of Bangalore who owns light woollens and one special citizen of Thane whose understanding of warm clothing is a flannel shirt, managed to beg borrow and steal enough woollens to fit into two bags. Ok back to the point of luggage arrival, I ended up standing next to Rahul Bose who was a good three inches shorter than I am. I had to get Ashutosh to come and stand next to him and feel superior (since Ashu does not feature in the average Indian height category). But to my dismay, the break turned out to be a lengthy one.

The taxi ride to Old Delhi station was rather uneventful, and our train compartment was filled with school kids who would not shut up. 6:00 a.m. reached Hrishikesh, now the trip really begins.

Crudely translated Hrishikesh would mean hair of a sage. I point this out as I could never understand (or rather was too lazy to find out) how the place got its name. That being said, Hrishikesh is such a picturesque heaven. Enveloped by the lush green Shivalik range, with the emerald meandering waters of the Ganga flowing through it, mere words cannot describe the scene.

We stayed at Himalayan Hideaway (http://www.hhindia.com/) in Hrishikesh. We booked this since we did not get reservations at the Neemrana Resort, which is further up the road. The resort or hideaway as they like it being called was a sliver of tranquillity. The rooms with their verandas echoed the sound of the emerald waters. The only draw back of the resort is its military ways. You have to eat only and only within the specified times. And if you just want to laze by the beach and read a book, be rest assured that someone will come looking for you. Otherwise the resort is worth every rupee (and trust me it’s not cheap).

Hrishikesh has now become synonymous with river rafting. And as all tourists to this land do, we went rafting as well. I am not the best of swimmers, so the idea of rafting in the Ganga, and most likely tipping over into the water, terrified me. But then on the assurance of my husband (read as hero), I proceeded to put on the life vest, and oversized floaters since I did not have any flip flops with me. The numerous instructions given by an exceedingly friendly instructing crew, multiplied by undiluted fear, makes the first few moments on the raft absolute horror. The fear subsided a little when I noticed that the waters were calm. Little did I know that we were headed for our first rapid. Without a moments notice I was paddling forward and hard forward as if on auto pilot, to the extent that I almost fell out of the raft. Ashutosh on the other hand was mind numb. He took a zombie like posture with an oar in both hands and a startled expression on face. In a few fleeting, eventful moments, we crossed the rapid. On the other side of the rapid we were greeted by our instructor on a canoe, who pointed out that it was just a grade 2 rapid titled ‘good morning’. The rest of the sixteen kilometre stretch consisted of seven rapids, and was untainted excitement and enjoyment. With each rapid our confidence to face the next one increased, and when we came to our biggest rapid called ‘golf course’ it was a pure adrenalin rush. Contrary to what I had anticipated, at the end of the course you find yourself totally refreshed and ready to go at it again. After this experience, my advice to anyone who is apprehensive about rafting is, swallow your fear and give it a shot. You will not be disheartened.