Why this Trip to Raigad and Kolad Very DE-lightful

 It was a long wait for me and I was all excited as it happened to be my first adventure trip. I had been doing treks earlier but this was supposedly a richer experience and one of its kinds.  Thanks to the planners viz. my college mates, Tarun, Amar, Tony and Vidya. We were to leave Mumbai in the morning for the trek at Raigad on day 1 and the long awaited River rafting on the next day at Kolad. We had arranged for the stay at Paradise resort, belonging to one of our friends Vidya’s uncle.

All in all it was appealing enough for a bunch of young boys and girls to go out to experience the thrill and adventure of a trek and water sport on a rainy weekend in July, rather than sit at home with your laptop or lie on bed to get only a dim view of what’s happening outside due to the wet windows. 

On the Way to Raigad

  

DAY 1 – RAIGAD TREK

It was just the start of July with intermittent showers of rain. I, along with a couple of other friends Suzan and Dennis had to board the tempo traveller at Nahur Station in Central Suburbs of Mumbai, which had already set off from Andheri, as early as quarter to 7a.m. But they missed us and reached a bit further to Airoli at about 7.45 a.m. We thought of catching up with them by taking an auto rickshaw, but in vain. The rain wasn’t helping our cause either.  Nevertheless they brought the traveller back to pick us up and off we went 6 gentlemen and 6 ladies to a fun trip and experience of a lifetime ahead of us.

I made my way through the vehicle with Suzan and Dennis, where we got a grand welcome by Rucha and Ramya, and all cheers from Tarun, Tony and Amar who I was in touch with during my college. This was a good time and opportunity for me to break the ice with the other members Vidya, Meeta and Arya as I didn’t knew them that well earlier. While all of us were talking to each other, Kaushik seemed a little lost with the driver as he was sitting beside him.

It was very humid that day but still overcast which meant that we could expect some more rain, later in the afternoon. The wind blowing through the windows of the moving bus kept us going, though. We had planned to reach Panvel and take diversion to Mumbai-Goa highway and reach Wadhal Naka from Pen town. This path was along the Mumbai Goa Highway NH 17.

NH 17 

Now for some reason or the other, my friend Tarun had created such a buzz about NH 17, especially amongst the girls, that they were all dying to be on the road. About half an hour or so and we were actually on the road. We reached Panvel and passed the beautiful fort of Karnala and the bird sanctuary along the road.  Later we stopped for a solid breakfast at the kamat’s hotel for a good 20 minutes with the idlis, missal pavs and tea. We then set ourselves straight to the fort at about 10.00 a.m.  The journey on the NH 17 takes you through a series of small villages, each having a crowded market place at the center and a few houses mainly surrounded by beautiful green fields as you move away from the market place. 

Green Fields in the monsoon

The color of the greenery is a pleasure to the eyes and the rain showering on the fields adds to the beauty of it all. This keeps repeating till you reach a junction called Wadkhal naka. We took the left on our way to Raigad.

The road becomes less crowded then and the bus started moving faster with sudden turns that rocked us  inside apart from the pop music of Michael Jackson that played in our bus, thanks to Dennis  who had brought the mp3 player with a good collection of songs. After the initial excitement and the breakfast the journey was now becoming sort of dormant and many were on the verge of a doze. I thought it’s a good time for a little nap, until I got hit on my arm by hand very sharp almost leaving impressions on it. It was Vidya, who said, “You are not allowed to sleep here OK.” I said yes. Only a moment later she shouted guys look and Out came the full bottle of Smirn off, from which she was about to sip which she did. I was wondering whether it was water or vodka the way she managed to guzzle it in. she then passed on the bottle to Arya who also had a sip or two and then passed it to me.

Now this is Déjà vu. It happens to me in every trip. It’s always in my checklist not to drink while travelling in the bus or car. And I check the word ‘not’ instead of the box ahead of the point. So, even this time, I went ahead with the sip down my throat and then passed the bottle to the rest in the bus. The little nap was now, out of the window as I was getting the burning yet cold sensation of the raw vodka. Moreover the gusting wind from the windows was not helping me sink in the shot of the vodka.

We knew that we have only a few kms more and thought would get down somewhere for a little snaps session. We soon found a nice place where we stopped alongside a pond and clicked a few pics. As the road was not that wide our vehicle had stopped aside in the muddy soil around the tar road.  This didn’t help our cause as tyres were now stuck in the mud and we had a task of removing it out. Now when I say we, it meant all the six gentlemen along with the bus driver, unlike the detergent ad which you see on air these days. It’s still a male dominated society, you see. 
As the fort is spread out to great extent horizontally, the approach road never takes you any closer from where you can get the view of the peak. Also there was a good range of mountains around the main fort which kept us guessing which one was the mountain with the actual fort on it. 

Raigad Fort View from the Base Village

We kept guessing and even betting on which one was the actual fort. I made several attempts, mostly in vain. But once the vehicle slows down and starts climbing up you are very near to it. The road up the fort was with twists and turns with some points almost like a ride in a fantasy park.

It was real fun and now the excitement had started building up, so much so, that we were thinking of starting the trek right way. But sooner than we could realize we had reached the base. I checked my watch and it was about 12.00 noon. We then collected out wallets and important stuff in a bag and couple of bottles of water. I decided to carry my bag as it was much lighter. 

Raigad Fort Hills

The trek started with a good patch of steps. The good thing about these steps is that give a clear trail of the target, but the bad thing is that each step is a heavier climb than a gradual path so it puts more pressure on your legs and you start getting tired sooner. All along the trek we found the difference when we were on these constructed steps and when we were on the normal walk way trail. It was also not a good thing for us to learn as we knew there were 1450 steps to climb to reach the top.

Raigad Fort Hills

The beauty of the surroundings kept us going though. Kaushik was leading our way and had put the windcheater along his waist, almost resembling a senapati of any Maratha crew.  Till a few early steps we had a good scenic view on both sides of the trail. Later on while moving forward on our right was the mountain and on our left was the valley with the snaked road that we had taken to approach the base.

In the early steps Dennis was finding it difficult to step up, as he was treated in his ankle with some metal stuff put inside recently.  We started considering stopping at a place for him to take rest. But such was his determination that he stood up and later on started moving ever more fluently than the others. After a good hour of the trail, with timely photo sessions with various poses, we reached a point where we started hearing the soft continuous sound of the waterfall. When something like this hits your mind, suddenly there’s more power in your feet, more energy in the muscles and you start pushing a little more as you see a target closer. 

Small waterfall on the way to the fort

We reached this small waterfall which was occupied by around 10-12 people, much close to its capacity, having the fun of their lives in the flowing cold water. We thought of staying there and wetting ourselves, but we still had a mountain to climb and thought that a break would really put us all down. So we all just had a splash of water on our faces and little bit around our arms and were off for the journey further. Meeta did the privileged services of splashing more water on all, until she suddenly realized that her camera was also a victim of her act and had no option eventually, but to stop.

The few steps further were through beautiful little cascades, until at a point you see the two big pillars of the fort which mark the main entrance. We stopped at a place which provided us with nice Kokam Juice, lemon juice, tea and parle biscuits which was just ideal for a little energy recall. We asked the guy at the juice place about the time remaining and he said 30 more minutes. His was a good estimate, probably because unlike other treks Raigad, being the king of Forts is more commercialized and the local people know the trekking speed of the people from the cities. Soon we reached the fort entrance, the Maha Darwaja where there is the local government managed  tickets counter and bought out 12 tickets for a meager sum of 5 rupees each. Built over 350 years ago, this main entrance to the Fort stands as commanding and daunting today, as it was then. Like many forts in Maharashtra it also has a strategic blind curve which defies the detection of its location to the attackers.

The main door is a huge structure of Rock making you feel at awe, as you enter in. The great Marathas must have been entering this gate in style.  After the door on the right is a stand of the guards, ready to welcome unwanted guests 24 x 7, chop your head off for a good meal for the vultures and the eagles in the valley, a second line of defence.

Watch posts  

Further the fort has various strategic watch locations and canon ball fire arrangements, for distant enemies, pointing at the approach road to the fort. The fort is pretty huge and widespread horizontally. It’s a city in itself and the example of it is the big market place, which is a long stretch of shops arranged in a symmetrical manner. This according to me was the best part of the fort. It made me visualize, those times a good 600 years ago, which you see in any movie of ancient times or the pictures of history books. It was very scenic and we managed to capture it in our cameras.

Market Place

After a while we reached a place where there are many local guest houses, made out of normal houses where the local people stay. There was also an MTDC resort, which we found later in the evening. For the food arrangements we caught hold of a local girl who offered a meal for 40 rupees plate of Bhajji and Zunka Bhakri, a favorite food you get on most forts in Maharashtra, which we agreed and started exploring the remaining part of the fort, as she would take time to prepare our lunch.

By now the rain had started assisting us in the trail, cooling us and many of us preferred to get wet, rather than put on the wind cheaters. We then moved towards the most sacred place on the fort. It was the temple of Lord Shiva and the Samadhi of the Greatest Maratha King of all times, Shivaji Maharaj. We took our shoes off and went to the place which had a sense of calm about it.

Shivaji Maharaj Samahi, Raigad Fort 

A strong leader and a courageous warrior who fought all kinds of battles, captures different forts, had lived his last moment at this place. The statue of Maharaj here is not as vivacious as some of those you see in the chowks all around Maharashtra, but it still carried the esteem of a life lived in honor of setting up swaraj to make the people capable and independent. This place is quite isolated from the rest of the fort and gives you a feeling of solace. I took a moment out of it, stood there in front of the samadhi for a while, to experience the silence and lost myself in the beauty of it all, until I heard Amar shouting, “let’s go now.”

Suddenly it had started raining heavier. By now we had stopped caring about getting wet as we were already so. So we went to the place where the little girl had set up lunch for us.  It was a small hut on the top of the hill, with a narrow door compelling each one of us to bow down as we entered it. The floor was natural soil with a layer of cow dung finish, typical of those you get in most villages in Maharashtra. There was no electricity so we had to do with the torch that I was carrying and hear and believe each other as we passed the food items.  The place was all filled by the smoke from the natural fireplace, where the lunch was prepared. It served the purpose of warming our clothes and bones tired after the trail. Moreover it also kept the flying insects away from us and the food. But even if it didn’t, we were so hungry that we would have easily gulped in.

The girl prepared the Bhaaji right in front of us, and every one of us was all set in readiness to almost to attack it. Plate after plate went down ever so smoothly. Then she served us with the Zhunka bhakar.  The mouths opened only to put in the food to silence the hunger after a hard effort to climb. What an experience it was. No lights, no mobile networks, a handful of water, no air conditioners, no cozy living conditions, but a bunch of good friends, enjoying  a well deserved hot and tasty meal, after a day’s hard fought team effort .

It was 4.30 pm already and there was no way we would descend manually as we had plenty of things planned for the night and also the next day. The girl suggested us the option of taking the ropeway down to reach the bottom. It was a really good option as it costs us a small sum of 110 rupees and also it took only 4 minutes to come down. We took the path that leads to the rope way which passes near the remaining part of the fort which we had not explored yet and started reading through the small excerpts penned on the fort walls. We came across the Mena Darwaja. This was the special entrance for the royal ladies and the queens. To the left of Mena Darwaja is the Rani Vasa or "Queens' Chambers". They were six in number and were being used by the mother of Shiv Chhatrapati - Jeeja Mata, Soyarabai, Putalabai and other royal ladies. In front of the Rani Vasa was the Palkhi Darwaja, a special entrance for the convoy of Shivaji Maharaj. On the right side of Mena Darwaja, was the office complex of secretaries of Shivaji Maharaj. To the right of Palkhi Darwaja, there is a row of three dark chambers. Historians believe that these were the granaries for the fort. To the right of the granaries is the palace of Shivaji Maharaj. It is called the Raj Bhavan, where he dispensed justice in petty and routine matters. Although we were running late on schedule, we still found sometime to explore this beautiful part of the fort as we walked through hurriedly to catch the ropeway train. This goes to show the commendable architecture and structural design which was prevalent even in that ancient era. Finally we came at the MTDC resort and the ropeway control station where we booked the tickets for the same and waited for our turn. As we waited near the entry point, some of us went a little further at the edge to see the deep valleys below filled with the flowing mist. Slowly our train had arrived and 4 of us got into one trolley each ready to go down the hill along the ropeway. 

Raigad Ropeway view from top

Just as the trolley moved down we started shouting out with excitement to find ourselves surrounded all around by the clouds mist. After a while we moved out of the clouds to see the distant village and the beautiful view of the mountains. It was slower than we expected, nevertheless it was wonderful. We felt like angels floating in the thin air coming down from the heavens. But as you move closer to the earth you come into the real world and we saw our fellow mates waiting and cheering for us, taking snaps at the stop at the bottom. We got out of the trolley and from the ground I could see two trolleys at a height moving slowly upwards.

Raigad Ropeway view from the base

I really felt proud to be an engineer after that moment and could recall the definition of a machine by the character of ‘Rancho’ in the famous movie ‘3 Idiots’ which says that, a machine is anything that reduces human effort and boy …it saved us quite an effort ….a 3 hour trail on the rocky and high steps as high as a knee length. At the base we had called our bus driver and at about 6.30 pm we were off to our next destination, which was the Paradise Resort in Kolad.

Kolad is roughly about 80 kms from Raigad which meant that it would take a little less than a couple hours to reach the place. May be more as we were moving to a fairly remote place and we were looking for directions to find the place. Vidya was on the phone continuously guided by her aunt, almost as a GPS for our bus to make sure we were on the right track. More of us joined her in the process as at one point in time her mobile network had stopped assisting her, and then it was like a code breaking exercise one does in a treasure hunt game or like in some movie of an expedition. We remembered a few code words in that transcript. One was a strategic left turn that we had to take at a diversion. It was already dark and green all around, and we could not see a single soul on that road. The night had started setting itself nicely and to the pleasure of our eyes we had started spotting fireflies. Suddenly the scenario was becoming a bit scary and we were experiencing the thrill of it. But as there was only a single road, it helped our cause and we could take that important left turn, unlike in the movie ‘Wrong turn’. There on the second code said Kamat’s village. This one was a bit tricky. We thought we found the place when we had reached a road entering into good three or four houses in a row, a good place to ask for directions. But the next thing that happened was the most shocking moment of the picnic. Just as our vehicle moved closer to the houses, the people inside the houses started running helter-skelter and locked all the doors and windows. Apparently for them, we were some kind of dacoits who had come to rob the place. Now that seemed funny to us for a moment and brought a smile on our faces, but the very next moment we realized the possibility of such people around that place. So we dropped the options of walking to the resort which we were considering initially. We did finally ask that one person, who managed to show his face from one of those windows and showed us the way to the Kamat’s place. While some of us were frightened to some extent, some others were quite lost, likes of Meeta, for whom all that mattered at that moment were those fireflies around the place. A few more minutes in the bus and we were more than pleased to see a board in front of us that read, ‘Kundalika River Rafting Camp’. On its right there was a road leading somewhere. Just at the moment when we were thinking of which road to take, came a Honda city from the road. Vidya spotted it and shouted, “Chachu…...” followed by Meeta who exclaimed, “So cute…” It happened so quickly, that it took time for us to realize, that the ‘Chachu’ was for the Vidya’s uncle who was driving the Honda city and the ‘so cute’ for his dog ‘Frenzie’ sitting behind the car.

‘Huh....’ such a sigh of relief, the quest finally ended and now we knew we would be guided properly by Uncle. He knew the critical areas of the roads where the bus may get stuck due to sunken soil.  Interestingly, before every such area he used to stop the car get down from it and come back to explain the road extensively to our bus driver. This made us understand the gravity of the situation, which was a result of actual gravity of the earth, pun intended. These kind of stop and demonstrate halts happened for a couple of times and finally we reached the resort which was a huge bungalow, with Aunty waiting at the gate to receive us with warmth.

The building was a piece of marvel in architecture. It stood silently with dim lighting just enough to make its presence felt in the surrounding darkness and trees. It had that unfinished brick walls look kept to get the feeling of a natural living.  Just as we made our way in to the compound gate, Uncle said, “So, you guys here for an adventure trip ha? Who of you are the most adventurous?”  We looked at each other and couldn’t make out from where that was coming. We said well most of us are adventurous.  Uncle followed, “they will need to stay in the cottage.”  The cottage had a capacity of 6 so we guys decided to stay at the cottage, another example of the male dominated society.

The cottage was an extraordinary place. It had the same architectural theme maintained as in the bungalow with the unfinished brick work. It had conical shape roof structure with pavers supported by wooden frames put above the walls. There were 5 beds initially and we were 6 guys, so we thought we could put one more so we went to get the bed from the bungalow. Dennis and I still had some energy to move with uncle to carry the bed from the bungalow to the cottage, which was a good 15 mtr or so from the cottage.  Now the bungalow was a lovely place, beautifully decorated with a series of paintings each depicting its own story. The double heighted ceiling gave the rooms a feel of a bigger space. The light was pretty dim, very much consistent with the basic theme of creating a sort of silent and slightly timid atmosphere. In conversation with uncle while carrying the bed, we learned how he had managed to start the resort business after moving from his engineering factory to this place. Just as we passed we could see the girl’s room, which appeared better than our cottage. As we were passing by Aunty saw us smiled and said in a subtle tone, “nice business ya, we make you pay and make you work...haha” I didn’t know how to react to this. Moreover we were very tired and made our way towards the cottage as we desperately needed a good shower. But as fate had in store for us, we found that we may not get the hot water as the geyser was apparently not working. So Amar who went in first only managed to get cold water. Next in was Tarun, and every time he went in and tried to put the geyser on the power supply went OFF ….and we were all put in darkness. The poor guy used to come out helplessly with only his towel and had to fetch for his clothes in the dark. This happened something like three times and every time when he used to come out we couldn’t help ourselves but laugh. That was fun. I then took out the torch from my bag and gave it to him to help himself. By now it had started raining very heavily with strong winds blowing and chilling us. The next person in was Dennis, the Mr. Fixit of the current situation, took his very own time inside alright, but came out as a winner and got a reception like an award winning actor or a cup winning sportsperson crowded by the media asking how you did it. He somehow managed to fix the problem and thanks to him as the rest of us benefited from that. Suddenly it had started pouring heavily and Tony felt some sprinkles of water over his bed falling from the roof. So he thought of moving the bed aside until we all realized that those sprinkles were all around the cottage as we saw the roof. And when we did that, we realized that we were not just the six of us inside the cottage. We were in the company of lizards as big as palms length, spiders hanging in their webs and a lot of small insects flickering over the dim lights. This was where we were supposed to spend the rest of the night. Perhaps that’s what uncle meant when he said adventure. And yes... for starters all these little snags worried us a bit. But eventually these little things helped strengthen the idea and gave us a feeling that we were on an adventure trip. So living in such conditions is a part of it, ask Bear Grylls.  Moreover we were eyeing at the bigger objective of ‘River Rafting’ the next morning and hence enthusiasm was unaffected.  

By this time we were pretty hungry and moved to the bungalow veranda, where the drinks were setup nicely on the table. This place according to me is the best in the bungalow, as silent as it gets, just sit and breathe in the moment of comfort that it offers. You see the dark night in front of your eyes with the sky, mountains and the dark green vegetation around. The darkness is lit up by the twinkle of the moving fire flies like a gentle spark of electricity. And to add to this I had a glass of vodka in my hand, with the company of good friends and a very gentle breeze.  It was a good time to forget about the life problems and talk about things which have no place in your routine life. You start conversations in general and go on. But in such an atmosphere especially when it’s a night you more often than not end up with ghost stories. And yes… there were a few of those. It started with Vidya’s company campaign that she happened to be in, where one of her advertisement models was possessed by the ghost of a local woman in the north , who started attacking there driver, when their car passed through a particular area of the village. Another one of the stories was of a group of drunken guys who got haunted where one of them threw up ash. Another story was of the auto rickshaw driver with feet pointing backwards and how that had created hysteria amongst people in that town of not taking an auto after 12.00 in the night. Every time someone told a story some of the people in the group bought it, some sought explanation, some thrashed it completely. Most times I start out as a genuine cynic in these stories and feel they are funny. But I have to say that after a while, I lived that one moment of fear that moved my mind. After all, the mind wants to be fooled and experience the fear. Fear which troubles you, gives you that terrifying sensation.

This session went on for nearly an hour with several rounds bhajjis of various kinds that aunty had prepared and with drinks. Soon we moved inside the bungalow to finish our dinner. Post dinner we had planned for some pass time so we invited the girls to our cottage for them to thank their luck for staying in the bungalow. I had a couple of mind engaging games from a previous picnic so went on with that. Everyone at start didn’t seem too keen but as the game went on they started getting their minds engrossed to the extent of biting their nails, scratching their heads and some dying to know the logic of the game. After an hour we were left with very less energy and also realized that it was 1:30 am already. So we went to our beds saying good night to the girls, lizards, spiders and flickering insects, to get up next morning for the much awaited activity of the trip, river rafting.

DAY 2 – RIVER RAFTING AT KOLAD

If there is any feature of my mobile phone that is absolutely useless, but still perceived to be useful is the alarm, thanks to a very lucrative option that comes along with it, SNOOZE. That’s the first word hitting my eyeballs every morning in the hour long battle to pull myself out of my bed; the battle with TIME and GRAVITY. The former is Ok. Though it lasts for an hour it feels like only 5 minutes. Well that is explained by Einstein’s theory of Relativity. But the latter is a problem. Dear Mr. Newton you calculated the gravitational force, great job Sir. But are you sure it’s the same value in the morning while getting up? I have my doubts. I am almost like 100 times heavier then, than I am right now.

But picnics are different. All the rules of our day-today life do not apply in picnics, well almost all. And waking up is one such phenomenon. It happens naturally. The snoozes, the alarm clocks, mobile phones or the kick on the ass by mom or dad is not required. Why? Because you always have a good reason to wake up. And boy.....we had a good one, River Rafting......

I got up to find that couple of beds were vacant which meant that I wasn’t the first one to rise. Suddenly I looked out of the window and caught sight of something that made me rub my eye muscles, to believe in what I was seeing.

Immediately I got out of the bed, making way out of the cottage, to see the beautiful Kundalika river, so very near to us. From where has the river come?

Kundalika River, Kolad

 I started wondering how we didn’t even realize that there was any river the previous night, thanks to Uncle and aunty, who had kept this as a pleasant surprise. I walked till the base and found Kaushik at a standstill. I made my way to the bank and sat down with my eyes glued to the scenery. There was a cold breeze passing by. It was significantly silent, a very peaceful moment indeed. Away from the buses, trains, noise of the city, with no moving bodies, eyes filled with greenery of the trees and the Blue River and sky. There were no targets, no mails, no presentations, and no meetings. All I knew was that I have lost myself in this territory of profuse harmony of nature. Is it the same sky? Is it really the same me? Or a very different one from the everyday me, who runs behind things which are running faster away from him.   “Hey guys”, there was someone who broke into that silence. It was Tony who followed “let’s have breakfast and tea, its ready”. So we went ahead for the breakfast and tea in the morning at around 7.00, with aunty filling all our plates with extra pooha, and telling everyone, “You will need this extra bit”. Our vehicle was to take us for a 20 minutes ride to the river bank where this activity was scheduled to begin at 8.00 in the morning. So after finishing breakfast we along with uncle and frenzie reached the place, where several cars and buses from all around the country had reached. There were somewhere around 200 people who were to do river rafting on that day. We thought it was only a lie when we were calling for the bookings, but now it was evident.  Around 20 rafts were arranged, the event organizer of the Kundalika river camp told us, just as we were given an affidavit to sign, a document having our emergency contact numbers and stating that we were well aware of the risks involved in this adventurous activity even to the extent of death, God forbid. One has to fill this form and its weird feeling you get while you do so, but for the larger objective we filled it.

By now, it was 8.00 am and we proceeded to the place where the main instructor had started demonstrating the basics of water rafting; a sort of primary demo for the DO’s and the DON’Ts of the activity and also how to use the KIT. The instructor made it clear that it wasn’t necessary to know how to swim as long as you put on the life jacket in the proper manner as demonstrated, which was a breather for some of us who were pondering on that thought of not being able to swim for last day and a half. He also suggested heart patients and people having back problems to step back as it was going to be quite an acrobatic activity. After 15 minutes of demo, we were asked to choose our own kit from the lot that was kept around us. As per the instructions we had to pick a helmet with a proper buckled strap, a life jacket and a paddle. This whole collection process was in a way funny as many started looking for color matching of the three from the available option of Red, Blue and Yellow, like kids running around in a birthday party to collect gifts and chocolates. That certainly helped to deal with our nerves. We had a little chance to capture ourselves in that gear thanks to uncle who had accompanied us with the camera.

River Rafting at Kolad 

This was followed by forming of groups of 9 as each raft had a capacity of carrying only 9 people plus the Instructor who was to be take the Cox seat for our raft.  Here we had no option but to split our group of 12 to 9 and rest went in another raft. We now were directed to our individual rafts with our Cox ‘Satya’.  Here we had a more comprehensive practice of various techniques that we would be using during rafting. It started from how to sit on the raft so as to maintain its balance and make sure it doesn’t flip. At the same time one should ground one’s feet into the rope at the base of the raft in the groove on the inner side. He then showed us and made us do a series of activities:  the way to hold the paddle, to move raft towards right, to move it towards left, move forwards, move backwards, stop and sit down holding the rope at a ripple, to control the speed of paddling. All by shouting out the instructions and we followed them. This lasted for a good 20 minutes or so and we all lifted the raft and entered the cold water of river, which was pretty still, at the base entry point. The doors of the dam were about to open at 9.00 and we had 15 more minutes of demonstration of using of the safety rope and pick up of a fellow mates using the proper technique which our instructor kept on stressing time and again. This time we also got ourselves completely inside the river to test our life jackets, swim and get used to the cold river.

 It was arranged so nicely that all the rafts were in the river in no time. The coxes of each of the rafts kept communicating through a few gestures and whistles and finally, came the signal to set off.  So its kick-off time and we started rowing forward into this beautiful river along its downstream.  Gradually our raft had picked up speed and now we could feel the movements like a sine wave with ups and downs. We had started shouting out the same instructions that came from Cox sitting behind and shifted a few seats so as to get the balance and power right. “Forwards, right forwards left back, left forwards right back....” we went on and on. Every time Satya shouted out the instruction, we followed it by shouting out louder. That was fun. Further down the way, he said with a prolonged exclamation, “Can you here it.......???????”


The first rapid was due and our excitement was sky high, the heart beats now started rising. Indeed the sound of the water was noticeable and its foam-like white color appeared as a natural Jacuzzi around the rocks, almost as if waiting for us.  As we approached the rapid, Satya instructed to hold the rope and plant the row. “Whooooo .......hhhoooo...” we all shouted and BOOM ....went the raft swirling into the cold water which got splashed on our faces and our bodies which were rocking. We went yelling and shouting out of sheer excitement. “Woooh ...huuuu” all sounds coming out of throats cleared after experiencing the thrill and wanting to do it again. In this state of elation, just when I was getting my breath back I could taste some blood inside my lips. I discovered that my paddle had rocked hitting my face on my lips causing a small cut. Technically one has to keep the paddle planted into the raft so that it doesn’t rock in the ripple. But I made this fundamental mistake of not doing it and so it hit my face. That shook me a bit, but it was a good wake up call. Moreover, there was more fun on offer so little did I care about it.

 It’s amazing how the raft carries you along the river, very similar to how a bottle of water tightly filled with air floats. Every rapid has twists and swirls of its kinds giving you the momentary lapse off the raft, the drench on your body. The rush of adrenaline through your veins, the short-lived loss of breath, the re-gathering of your breath, the pumping of your heart harder which you can feel at every instant......mannnn that is what you want to experience. That is what you have travelled so far for. We passed a few such rapids named distinctly as ‘MORNING HEADACHE’ and ‘FISHERMAN’S CLOVE’.

In between the rapids the stream is comparatively slower, but here Satya made us shout out slogans in jubilation and team chants, racing with the other rafts, splashing water on the other rafts and getting splashed in return. At one point we all stood up vertically as the raft was moving and suddenly lost balance. So all of us felt in the river. That was first time we were inside the flowing river with our heads inside and those 3 seconds with the raft above us were exhilarating. I remember only thinking of fetching the rope on the raft which all of us found and got back, thanks to the sturdy life jackets. Soon we realized that the fall was meant to be and now that we were all safe back on the raft again, a little tingled  but, got sort of got addicted to that fearful excitement. So the next thing we do, we stood up again and fell again and got back again. This happened a couple of times and we were braver at the end of it. 
This whole activity was now building so much space in my heart. Till then, I had only heard about rafting and also read in many of those emails circulated about leadership, team building and stuff like that. But this time I was experiencing it. What an act!!!! The rowers sit balanced on either side of the raft based on their individual weight and power. The Cox, who is the leader is behind, who controls the team with instructions which are unanimously followed. Interestingly they can’t see the leader but he can and it is the trust they have that drives them only by just hearing the instructions he gives. Amazing indeed.

At this point we reached the still part of the river where the entire rafts gather around at a base of full of trees of Karonda fruit. There we plucked many fruits from the trees, which tasted very sweet, threw some at each other, at other rafts fighting like little children. Well there’s nothing wrong in being a kid for some time. This activity in between is a nice part of the whole package which adds to the fun. After the gathering and ensuring all the rafts had reached the coxes again went on with their signals and off we went to the last rapid named ‘JOHNNY WALKER’. The rapid has its own history said Satya. A famous rafter who had travelled here to raft kundalika reached this rapid. But on that day, the vehemence of this last rapid was so much that he had no option but to carry the raft and walk along the rocks. Hence the name ‘JOHNNY WALKER’ as the tagline of the liquor brand goes ‘keep walking’.  So this was the BIG one. By now we had seen it all and were ready for it. But this time the stream was faster, the flow was harder, and the 180 degrees swirl marked its peculiarity. Yet again we came out strong in this one too and that was the point of ultimate ecstasy, the seventh heaven. We ain’t any Johnny....we went for the churn.....

Hush..........this was last one.....wasn’t it? Is the fun over?  We started thinking about it until Satya opened another pack full of surprises. Next to follow was a constant yet gentle stream of flowing river. Here we could swim and relax. I was afloat in the water facing the beautiful blue sky, thanks to the jacket. Then Satya started few more activities which were in store.  The forward jump, backward jump, the free fall, the rescue act; one by one this activities making things larger than life. The last and the best according to me was the 180 degree flip of the raft. At first I thought I didn’t hear it correctly when he said 180 degree which meant upside down. We all were having a ball so far and nothing was going to stop us from doing that too. So we went ahead with it. For the raft to flip the weight of all was to be carried on a concentrated side balanced by the Cox at the other   side. On the release of the raft on the other side by the Cox and by the natural weight it took a 180 degree flip with all rowers below it completely inside the water. In a split second the world becomes 100 times silent, as the sound inside the water is lesser. You try to catch sight of things but find that they are only fuzzy. But you want to breathe and for that you need to make a way out. But how do you do that? As the raft is right above you. But with your basic human instinct you move aside and somehow make it up. All this in a those 2-3 seconds inside. AWESOME....


We were now in the river for over a good two and a half hours and knew that it was coming to an end. The last part was slow rowing like kayaking till the base. We sang songs here and the rain was helping us too. We finally reached the base where uncle was waiting for us with the camera to capture, these remarkable moments.

River Rafting at Kundalika River , Kolad

We carried the raft till the road which was a 20 odd metre away from the bank of the river, removed our gears and gave our thanks and tips to out instructor Satya, who with his value added services had made our experience delightful, to say the least. This is amongst the few activities when I felt that each penny spent was worth the fun.

At this place there were refreshments arranged by the locals and we couldn’t stop ourselves from having a hot cup of tea with Maharashtra’s favorite food vada pav, even though we had our resort nearby. That explained the extra bit that aunty was insisting on in the morning. We moved towards the bungalow to get a good shower as it was around noon and we were to have lunch. But again our sight caught the beautiful river and some of us walked in and what next. Some others including me followed them. Man this isn’t getting over yet. 

Again in the river we were, but this time very relaxed, but cautious as we were without the life jackets. Suddenly we saw a darker cloud approaching us and the rain it brought felt like God was playing the gardener watering the plants. You never get to see this phenomenon in the cities. We could see the rain travelling distinctly along the path of a river. What a sight! One after the other, so many activities had really made my day. By now it was 1 pm and we decided to go back to our rooms once and for all.

After a good hot shower we were now at the bungalow for lunch. Hungry like anything, we went on the delicious biryani, leaving the bones to frenzie who latched on to it, the moment we finished. At lunch we shared the awesome experience with aunty and uncle and endlessly went on about the amount of fun that we had. It was 2.30 pm and we were soon to leave for Mumbai, so we started gathering our stuff. This is the hardest part of any trip, the going back on your everyday track. But like all good things this too had to come to an end. So we gave our thanks to Uncle and Aunty, for their hospitality and guidance for the activity, and left for Mumbai at 3.00 pm.

The return journey till the main road was through the single road. We were all sitting in our seats but Tarun had other ideas. He induced the thought of sitting on the roof of our force traveller which was seconded by all of us. So we got up on the roof of the traveller and completed the little part of the journey from above, another experience of its kind. It was like travelling in an open jeep, hunting in a jungle, but at a higher altitude. We passed the branches of the trees which crossed over the road very closely. Soon we reached Kolad naka where the Highway was to begin and we had to get inside the traveller for a safer 2 hrs journey further.

We were in the last few hours of a memorable trip. So we thought to mark it by music and dance inside the bus. The shots of vodka added a little flair to the last part of an astounding trip. Within 2 hrs we reached Mumbai where I got down the bus with couple of my friends, saying goodbye to the rest for creating significant memories of an astonishing trip, which will cling fondly to our minds for a great part of our lives.

                                  

---THE END---

Photo Courtesy: Divya Vaswani & Neeta D’souza, Title courtesy: Tushar Jahagirdar