An Adventure Trail Through Nature: Camp Ganga Riviera, Rishikesh

Today is the 22^nd of July, 2011 and this entry makes its way to my blog especially for three people who have become very important in my life over the past months- Mr Himanshu Dubey, Mr Rohit Jakhu and Mr Sahil Madan.

Well, I shouldn’t call it ‘past months’. It should in fact be ‘three days’. The three days that made a complete difference. The three days that the four of us would never be able to forget in our entire lifetime. The three days when we chose to live life to the utmost in the ways we wanted to. The three days when nothing else and nobody else mattered. The three days because of which, today we know each other so well. The three days that we spent on our maiden adventure voyage to Rishikesh.

It had all begun due to a casual conversation with one of our faculty at college. And yes, we were too excited and even though we were warned by our families against going for such an ‘adventurous trip’, we couldn’t resist. We gave no heed to the advices received, and that made all the difference.

Starting from the moment we took the orange bus from Pushp Vihar Bus Stop to Red Fort, right till the end when the auto brought us from Kashmere Gate ISBT to home- the complete 80-hours that we spent together stand unexplainable and unscathed in our memories, something which probably just the four of us can comprehend and understand.

May it be the planning of the whole thing, attempting of the unthinkable adventures, coming over our worst fears, or discovering new dimensions of friendship- everything came across the four of us in those three days.

How we complained about the so-called-volvo bus and then the a/c froze us, how we felt about cruelty to animals and the increasing deforestation, how we loved having no contact with the world for over 24 hours, how we discussed our lives while waiting for the wonderful food at the camp with nobody but stars watching us so close-by, how we loved the hospitality being meted out to us in a strange land by people who had not known us for more than a few hours, how we discovered that even 6 feet is a very high altitude, how we walked in the middle of the forest and rested in the most natural settings, how we learnt to live with kerosene lanterns for a night at a place which hasn’t seen electricity ever, and not to forget of course, how we faced our worst fears in adventure sports which rarely people dare to undertake- that was our life at Camp Ganga Riviera, 40 kilometers uphill Rishikesh.

Seeing waves as huge as that of the sea in the middle of a river, which are trying to swallow us raw and whole- well, not a scene that anybody would ever fantasise about but which we saw materialising right in front of our eyes. A time when you are praying to God that let all be well, let everyone be safe- that was a time we faced when we were struggling to reach our raft which had almost been overpowered by nature’s fury and we were being carried away by the river away from life, literally.

In the end, yes, this was all fun. These were what made the memories. These were the things that made the memories so strong that we never wanted to come back from that place- a place which we had known for so little number of hours.

And about writing this blog entry so late and today’s day bearing significance? Well, it is because it was today’s date that I set myself the deadline for completing my Project Rishikesh- a project which I had envisioned on our bus trip back to Delhi. A project which I had started planning and working on the very day we returned, and a project which today stands ‘shelved’. I have not been able to complete it; in fact I should say that I haven’t made much progress with it at all. And I had raised the expectation level of the three of you to such high altitudes that declaring it to be unfinished and being unable to progress with it, makes me feel guilty today.

It was difficult for me to learn Adobe Premiere Pro and convert video-codecs to include in Windows MovieMaker. And so, my idea of the audio and video incorporated multimedia e-tabloid didn’t see the light of day. Nor was the 24-page magazine able to fulfil its aim of serving as a souvenir. And neither did the over 200-slide powered presentation, that promised to give the world a complete tour of what we faced and what we did (in a R L Stine’s Goosebumps book style) with interactive links, audios, videos and first-hand experiences, face completion. I am really sorry my friends that I couldn’t keep my promise and I am even more sorry for the fact that to compensate for not being able to do anything, I am doing what I can always do very easily- write a blog entry.

I wouldn’t say that I have failed in my endeavour. It’s all in the state of mind and the ‘shelved’ project might come to the foray anytime when I feel like relishing the wonderful time we spent together.

I am sometimes awestruck by a thought and have pondered upon it lot many times-

While waiting for our bus at Pushp Vihar that night, did the four of us know that by the time we see this bus-stop again, our lives would be so much more intertwined together, and untangling which wouldn't be possible or desired?