Adventure trip to Rishikesh

Located on the banks of the river Ganga, Rishikesh is considered to be a place for religious people around India and people from Foreign Nations. It is mainly known for Yoga, Meditation and its sacred & historic temples. However, many of them don’t know that Rishikesh is not only a top religious place in India, but also one of the biggest adventure destination in India. It is also called as the ‘Adventure Capital of India ‘.

Based in Mumbai. I had volunteered for the trip planned by Streets of India and Zdventure India to get a bit of change from the usual monotonous life. The trip began on 10^th Feb right from the moment I boarded the train from Mumbai to Delhi as I hardly knew the company of people I was going to spend my time with for the next 5days.

Execution:

On 11^th Feb, I met a bunch of 43 odd people who came up from different places for one memorable trip. These were the ones I would be travelling along with in and around Rishikesh. On 12^th Feb, at 4.30am, after a 6 hour bus journey from Delhi to Haridwar (approx 240kms) being our first halt in the journey. We got out of our bus facing the cold breeze enough to bring us back to reality from dreams. It took me a while to get immune to the chilling temperature, till then I enjoyed the scenic beauty of dimly lit lights just before the sunrise. Soon, after the Shahi Snan, we distributed in smaller groups looking around for candid shots and that’s when I photographed this image. Chased him for a while when I saw him walking towards the shore, got behind him slightly zoomed in the 18-135mm lens attached to the borrowed Canon 500D and this was the result. One of my favorites from Har-Ki-Pauri, Haridwar.

After a stroll on the shore, near the temple and the beautiful symmetric bridges built, we headed towards the streets looking around for local street food and pandits (saints) who visited Haridwar on occasion of Ardh Kumbh. It seemed like a carnival and I enjoyed the moment of sharing smiles with strangers and capturing them while they gave an inquisitive look.

Moving ahead in the journey, our second halt was at Rishikesh an hour’s ride from Haridwar (20kms), where our home for the next 2 days was Zostel- India’s first chain of backpackers’ hostels that offered vibrant common rooms, hushed up reading spaces, comfortable dorms and privates, more than something you can ask for.

After unpacking, we left to explore the local market which was pleasing with all those little cafe's, handicraft stores, ancient coin stalls, rafting banners and graffiti’s on the way. We chose a café with balcony seating’s which offered the calming view of the Laxman Jhula.

Returning back to Zostel for some rest I ended up spending my evening in the common room playing Jhenga and UNO which proved to be a great decision as ended up interacting more making our own rules for the game and planning about the next day.

Day 2:

To-do list was out, finally checking off, Rafting in the white waters. Excited, all set for the water sport we got into the Gypsy that would take us to the starting point. Sadly, camera’s not allowed but that didn’t affect our excitement much. Wore the safety gears, noted all the necessary instructions, got into the rafts all set to sail. Enrolled for the Level 5 rafting, the first 3 levels went of pretty well while chasing and teasing each others. After, the 3^rd level I started feeling the chills as we were all soaked in the river water and the breeze added to our chills. Our rafts slowed down a bit after the 4^th level took a break for some hot snacks and tea. But, since this was the first time experience for most of us and it also started drizzling we cut short the break and moved ahead to avoid sickness. But boy, the 5^th level was epic; the raft I was on was about to turn upside down but thanks to our guide and his instructions we saved it. The overall experience was breath-taking. Got back to the Zostel in the same gypsy.

Freshened up, took some rest. Visited Triveni Ghat to experience the Ganga Aarti. The experience here was surreal. The enthusiasm of the saints performing the pooja while its drizzling, a few other locals and foreigner performing pooja, the tea seller helping us cope up with the weather. And last but not the least was a group picture right in front of the Prem mandir. (Group picture taken by a fellow traveler) Later, the organizers gave a little surprise, they had called in for scooters for the next day.

Partied, feel sick, recovered; all within 12 hours.

Day 3:

Today, since we had scooters for the entire day. The first spot we visited was, The Patna falls, trekked in slippers as my shoes had soaked a lot of water the previous day as I wore it while rafting even after a lot of warnings (mistake I realized later). While trekking, we came across various water streams flowing through the hills. The trek to the waterfall was a little difficult for me as I had higher chances of slipping, but the natural beauty, sound of the flowing water and the cool breeze helped in keeping up the energy high with enthusiasm. While trekking we also came across a few donkeys moving down in quiet some speed which scared us for a while until their keeper whistled them and guided them. As they calmed down and halted for a while, I took bigger and faster steps on the route to reach at a distance away from them just for safety issues. While moving higer, I lost the shot where they were drinking water from one the water streams and got this while they continued their journey.

Camera back into the bag as I didn’t want to take any more risk of sliding down the hill. Reached, the main waterfalls, took  lot of slow shutter shot, candid’s and moved down back to the base. Time for the second place, headed to the Beatles Ashram also known as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ahsram. The Beatles were one of the most popular music bands in 1960's throughout the world. They visited Rishikesh in 1968 to learn transcendental meditation at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Ashram.

The calmness felt here was different, away from chaos between art, door less rooms, dark graffiti's a few of them making you feel the pinch. Totally, emotionless for a while with no thought running down at all. I hardly clicked any images here. The ride till here through the local streets, Ram jhulla and thin lanes was fun.

The next destination was a Hike to the Kunjapuri Temple, about 20 km drive from Rishikesh city, hidden in the mountains at an altitude of 1650 m. Reached the top of the hill which gave a scenic view of the city, witnessed the elevated sunset. Reaching the temple needed  another hour or two but since it was already dark, considering that we had to ride back on the uneven hill with no street light to reach the city we had to give up on the thought of visiting the Temple.

Got back to the city, enjoyed dining at a café where they had music and dance voluntarily performed by visitors exploring the city since last a few months. Since, it was 14^th Feb Valentine’s day the place was packed with both localities and foreigners in search of peace and gaining new experiences.

This was the last day of the trip but a start for a lot more trips ahead, hopefully.