The Anti-Travelogue

This is NOT a travelogue; that’s because a travelogue would be an introspective description of one’s travels and experiences therein. This, on the other hand is as-was description of my most recent river-rafting adventure, described aptly by one word: W.E.T. Read on to find out why...

WET:

The first day of our adventures started off quite normally, landing at Udupi on a bright, sunny Friday morning. The bars of Vande Mataram filtering in from the local potti-kade reminding us that it was the 15th of August. Riding the local bus from Udupi to the small town of Hebri, about an hour away, at the foothills of the ghats, I realized that our adventures had already started, for the drivers of the buses here sped on a road barely as wide as the bus itself, towards oncoming traffic (other buses, i.e.) and pedestrians (on a non-existent footpath) at breakneck speed, only to veer off and cheat death at the last moment, without even a twitch of the eyebrow. Sitting right at the front of the bus, I tried to keep my eyes and thoughts off the road, by fixating on the brilliant green vegetation streaking by, and the verdant Western Ghats in the background. Reaching the campsite, we all breathed sighs of relief, partly because we were unable to hold our breath any longer, and partly because the loos at the place were acceptably clean, though with non-functional doors!

The initial formalities and ablutions completed, we headed off to the starting point of our rafting route on the Sita river. Donning our life jackets and safety helmets, as we got into our rafts with our paddles, we must have made quite a sight for the locals, who, I’m sure, cross it without as much as batting an eyelid. After some initial paddling exercises and emergency training, two rafts, comprising of interspersed techies from Oracle and HP, set off downstream. Almost with impeccable timing, the heavens let loose their watery fury, engulfing us in a tropical downpour. Rafting through dense jungle on both sides, barely able to see ahead through the torrent, it felt uncannily like one of Discovery channel Amazonian adventures. Now and then, the rain would let up, and we would catch sight of the local feathery fauna; kingfishers, cormorants, peacocks etc. As it turned out, few of our rafters-in-arms were wildlife enthusiasts, providing the contextual enlightenment. Most of the time though, we were hanging on to the raft for dear life, and at the same time trying to keep pace with the instructors paddling commands, as we tried to battle the surging river currents. The battles which we won, by successfully making it through a set of rapids were greeted by hoots of joy by the occupants of the rafts. More often than not, the river won, and a bunch of us would be thrown overboard. The raft would then become a tangle of arms, legs, and oars, as the chaps left in the boat tried valiantly to rescue their ejected raft-mates. During one such rough-and-tumble, even the instructor fell overboard, and to our surprise, continued to bark out commands from the water, as the three of us left in the boat struggled to get the rest back in! Getting the last guy back was a quite a struggle, as the raft had been swept downstream by then, and we had to paddle upstream against the current to get him back in. It was all quite dramatic stuff, involving a bit of coordinated paddling on our part. Maybe this is the stuff that should be included in teamwork training at team building camps!

The lunch stop midway on our expedition was a welcome break; never before has cold pulav, watery curds, and dry curd rice, mingled with our sweat and the rain water, tasted so great. The lunch respite ended with us setting off on second leg of the journey, which, though equally strenuous, was comparatively relaxed, probably because of the stultifying effect of overeating during lunch. We completed the entire 22 km stretch of the river by around 5 PM, and trekked part of the way back to camp, for the badly needed bath (!!) and recuperation. The rain gods, though, decided not to take any chances, and it continued to rain through the evening and night.

ENTERTAINING:

Day two started off with a trek to a nearby waterfall (one would do well to note that here, ‘nearby’ is relative). We started off with a hike along an unused tar road (which was supposedly laid as a part of the Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fund!), and turned off from it into the thick jungle. From there on, it was feasting season for the local leeches; and they clung on to us like relatives. Despite the precautions that people had taken, the incessant racket of the crickets of the forest would be frequently disturbed by a shriek of a leech encounter, and it was trusty Srivas to the rescue with his salt shaker (whacked from my mom’s dinner table, by the way), to extricate the wily parasite off the foot or leg of the attacked individual. Even so, all the hula boo didn’t prevent some of the trekkers from being deprived of small portion of their precious blood. Leeches, I guess, didn’t care about blood type at all! To add to the close encounters with local wildlife, one of the wildlife enthusiasts, who was also a snake expert, caught a small green tree snake in the jungle, which he carried in his jacket (!) to show to the rest of us. Pretty soon, cameras started clicking away all round, with everybody prominently displaying the snake as a record of their bravado. I feared that the fragile reptilian would go blind due to all the flashes being shoved into its face.

TIRING:

Eventually, some of the hikers decided to call it quits, and headed back. With a final tally of four remaining enthusiasts, we decided to go all the way to the base of the waterfall (called locally as Koodol Theertha). The jungle path itself was crossed repeatedly by many creeks burgeoning with crystal clear water, forming cascades along the slopes of the hills. Obviously, we didn’t let these natural (and free!) spas go to waste, and indulged thankfully in the pure joy of relaxing under the gushing water. As we neared our destination, the dense jungle gave way to a clearing; a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. Like a red cherry to finish off the topping, the breathtaking vistas of dark green rainforest everywhere, with steep hillsides dotted by numerous waterfalls, made it all worth it. After wiping clean our packed lunch, we head back to camp. To rephrase that, we proposed to call it a day. But nature, it seemed, had other plans. The clouds opened up full blast (again), and the shaded jungle path turned into a slippery, treacherously sloping terrain. And in keeping with my flat-footedness, I had my share of the falls and concomitant bruises, now a customary part of all my outings. After what seemed like a REALLY long return trip, we finally came back into civilization, soaked to the bone, and the simple neera dosa and hot tea served at the wayside shop felt nothing less than a gourmet seven-course meal! Life’s simple pleasures to offset the pretended ones…

Summing it up, all I’m left with is a couple of aching limbs, a lingering cold, and a collection a some very enjoyable ‘been-there-done-that’ memories.