Sunday, July 20, 2008

Roaring Rafters of IDC

A little different from the age old tradition of having unplanned trips, this one was all preset and well executed! Kudos to everyone especially Jojo, Poli and Pushki!

A minibus was ready early in the morning for all the enthu Junta who were already at IDC... sleeping.. or chatting.. basically... Lukkha :)

And then a loooooong sleepy journey to our destination.. The Kundalika River Rafting.



While having a steaming hot tea and the Parathas we had packed from H12. The team from Pune joined the gang...





Those were in their formals had to change and everyone was ready for the thrill.



They packed the rafts on top of a sumo and in no time headed for the river.



We were following that white sumo in front of us until it vanished somewhere all of a sudden! well anyway were almost on our way...

"Hey take a left turn from the metal bridge!!"

That was pushkar with that handmade route map to kundalika river in his hand...
uh oh!.. in a few minutes we knew it..

we're lost!!

But anyway, it didn't take long for us to get info from the locals and get back on track. Within no time the place became ours. There were a lot of Nepali rafting instructors and some TV crew from 9X! Yea, they got what they really wanted form the IDC gang :)







Come on.. how much time we can stay lukha?.. It was fun shouting, walking around doing some concrete rafting before doing it in the white water.





"wwwooooooooooooooooooo..... . . . . . "

That was the sound of the siren from the Kundalika Dam!. they're about to open the Dam gates. Within minutes the river is going to be flowing white!

we rushed back to the instructors and collected our Protection Gears.
A Helmet, a life jacket, oars and..a rescue rope.



That chinkie Head instructor was funny and was actually acting out how we're supposed to row the raft and avoid danger!.

One more siren, and we went back to the river, where the rafts were ready for the thrill and we had to carry it all the way to the river!

A little bit of practice in the still water.... "Right forward... forward team!.." instructors shouted and we were already thrilled to get into the rapids.

That was an awesome experience (alas! no photographs here) Splashing through the river.. trying to balance when the rafts were struggling the rough waters!

But luck was not with us all the time.. we heard that C2 managed to fall into the river somehow :) and later, Manoj too.

All the time, the 9X tv crew were following us with those waterproof wide angle video cameras.. Don't know when that documentary is going to be aired.

Once the Rapids, and dangerous areas ( which they called BoomShankarwere over, we jumped into the river, rusting our life jackets.. float freely. Reminded us the 'come back ... come back.." scene from Titanic ;)

That was maybe the most interesting part of the rafting when we floated freely in the middle of the river. We were flowing with the river current for almost an hour. Screaming, shouting, and 'trying' to play games..



But at the same time, we had to be really cautious NOT to go under the rafts by mistake, coz if we do.... that's the end of it... might not come out!

Almost one hour later, we were back in our rafts and suddenly...
It rained!!!!! heavy rains!... We were in the middle of the river and the raindrops danced over water surface like jewels! an awesome experience we can never forget!..

We rowed till the end of the course and it was time to get the rafts to the shore..
Whoo.. the raft was really heavy..



And yeah.. of course.. photo sessions again :)







Have you ever had Kurkures for lunch???
well, we had to!. .. After so much of faltoo efforts on the raft we were extremely hungry and nothing to eat!!!!



Well, after a short jorney and on the way we found this hotel and...





Saying bye to Pushkar and Varun, who were heading back to Pune we got into the bus..
It was a nice and sleepy journey until we found this broken green rail bridge!..



stopped the bus right there.. and masti again..











Once back in the bus, we couldn't sleep again.. Singing songs, and pulling legs..
Especially our SuperHero.. Juny Hancock!!



you won't believe.. there was a mountain itself dedicated to him.. [internal joke :) ]

Didn't even know how time flew on our way back.. it was fun.

With a head count of 25.. this was the biggest trip ever planned in IDC...
Thank god.. we're alive and kicking in IDC.. Lovin' n' livin in IDC :)