Ankur Sethi - VIBES OF LIFE

Travelers – Aman, Rajat, Dipen & mE

There are two ways that I can describe my experience about this trip.
First is that it was “Simply Stupendous” and here I start the second one…

We hired a cab (Tata Indica) for the complete trip though I was even comfortable going by bus however as majority of us were in favor of a cab of that was it.
It started around 0130 hrs after picking up aman, dipen & rajat. I was to be picked last and we left my place around 0230 hrs. Followed by some faltu ke baate we crossed delhi border in just one hour (not bad). We had to stop in between because rajat was insisting and it was quite a valid reason too [Won’t write the reason here but I guess every one understood ;)]



After a small nap we all could see the sunlight and we were just a couple of hours away from Haridawar. Road was fine and we reached Har ki Paudi at 0630 hrs. Water level was very less compared to the last time I visited there and being it a Sunday, rush was also there. After few hours of playing in the water we all thought that it not that hard to swim (at least when we are in four feet deep water…haha). After having food (Poori chole, kachori, Maal pore, halwa and lassi – not much) in the very famous Sharma sweets we left to rishikesh.






If I remember correctly we reached Ram jhula around 1100 hrs and their we meet Pradeep of Jhanvi Tour & Travel who then gave us the options of what we could do with the amount of time we had. I was keener to raft on Sunday itself but then considering that rajat was tired and it was quite hot also, we all decided to raft on Monday and then the issue was what to do today!We were then in search of a room to stay and had a walk around the place mean while I was busy clicking picture as this was our first trip together (Me and my Cam)



This Boy was standing below the Ram Jhula and was asking people to throw coins. Some people did and many didn’t. We had our lunch at the Choti Wala Restaurant and relaxed at the ghat for an hour or so. I was very surprised to see so many cyber café’s there. Internet accessibility has really gone places. We then moved on to one of the exiting parts of our journey. Some one had told us about a waterfall and we all were interested in seeing one. It was around 8 kilometers drive from Laxman Jhula and we reached a place which was not that famous, maybe because it was not that easily accessible or whatever.



From here we had to walk up the mountain over four kilometers though we were informed that its only one and a half kilometer up. Phew, that was tough!It was quite noisy due to the water flowing down and at times quite scary also because I could hear someone walking behind me but could not see any thing or anyone. Finally after walking for a long and tiring 45 mins, reached this beautiful place.



After reaching there I found out that there were four French girls who were also sitting and enjoying water up there. Now I knew why rajat climbed up there so fast. This place was named “Neel Gatto” but I named it “Fantasy falls” (Just for Rajat).
After having a dip in the chilled water and spending some time there, we moved back and mean while rajat had one French friend…Ogalie…lolAs I thought it was tougher to move down than climbing up but some how I managed to do it with some pain in my right leg. If any one wants to go up there make sure that you are extremely careful because its not child’s play, it can be dangerous at times!



Took some pics on our way back to Laxman Jhula and then to Ram Jhula.
After all we found a room where we decided to stay – clean, economical, awesome view (That’s all we wanted). I was tired and therefore slept the whole night and didn’t even have my dinner.

Next morning I woke up around 0700 hrs but wanted to sleep for 5 more mins and then got up around 0745 hrs, which is exactly 5 mins…lolSimply loved the view from my room as you can see!


There was a small friendly fight between Dipen & Rajat on who was to take a bath later which dipen won. Had our break fast at the madras café and rushed to the cab, which already had four and a half people waiting for us. In around twenty minutes we were at our starting point – Shivpuri and yeah that was an awesome feeling and I was really excited to Raft! After wearing our life jackets we were in the water trying to swim and thanks to those life jackets, we were floating and we were happy.

Our guide Manoj taught us some instruction (e.g. - all forward, right forward left back, get down and stop) He also instructed us what to do if any one of fall out of the raft. We started at 1200 hrs. We saw ten rapids in total. Return to center, Roller coaster, T-off, Golf course, Club House (I & II), Any Session, Double Trouble (I & II) and Hilton.Among all these I loved Return to center, Golf Course and Any session! We had a Nine year old as well amongst us but our guide, Manoj didn’t wanted him to stay for one of the rapids named golf course but king (that’s what I called him) was happy being a part of rest of the rapids.


There was a place after few rapids where the water was silent and Manoj (our guide) asked us if we wanted to swim and yeah was the answer from aman, dipen and me. Later rajat also got some courage and slowly jumped in. We were in the middle of mountains and in 25 ft deep water and floating. (I would never forget this)


Stopped at the camp and we had our lunch and relaxed for a while. Next time when we visit we’ll surely stay in the camp and not in a hotel, as it’ll be more fun. After approximate 45 mins we moved on and enjoyed few more rapids and then came the very scary and exciting Jump Point.







I never though that I could jump from over 27 ft rock in over 20 ft deep water but after watching a lady doing it I thought I’ll surely do it but when I climbed the rock the view was terrifying but after thinking for few seconds I jumped and I really can’t express that experience! Rajat was scared and he gave up but Mr. Gutsy (Aman) jumped thrice and dipen was also ready for his second jump but I stopped him when I saw blood coming out of my mouth. Thank god it was just a small cut under in upper lip. I was upset for the next 10-15 mins for two reasons, one I already mentioned and second, manoj was not able to click my pic when I jumped from the Jump Point (Arrgh). Anyways! We then slowly moved on and then the trip ended near Ram Jhula.

All in All it was an unforgettable and immensely enjoyable experience!I’ll be back for sure and this time I wont keep my mouth open when I jump.

More Pics can we viewed here