Hills , Rivers and Friends

Well , You know the ingredients mentioned above when mixed in a right proportion could result in a killer dish . ( Sorry Master-chef Fans , That is all I would talk about cooking )

As you would have guessed (Most of you) , this post is about my trip to Rishiskesh and Haridwar .

The Strongest Bonds are made in Heaven .
Well ,  That was the very basic idea with which we planned a trip to the Heaven's replica .

The experiences and lessons we learn t were invaluable , It is not possible to describe it into words .

Yeah , but I am giving it a shot ;)

Lets look at it day by day ..

Day 0

"Bhot Ho Gaya Salo abb toh Kahin Ki Trip Bnao" , you might have heard these words often while hanging out with your friends . Well , it started off from the same point .
Out of no where , the next day  I saw  a list with the names and the amount due .
Being a guy who was held back from playing Cricket just because of the fear of hitting by the ball , I really didn't had much hope of my Dad's approval .
However  , with the garnishing of some white lies I asked my Father about the "Educational Trip" .
I don't know if my stars were aligned perfectly or was it just the alcohol , but my Dad just gave a green signal without even  a second thought .

Day 1

The little doors of the cage opened ,  we were all set to take our first independent step ..
We were all pumped up and excited but we forgot one thing ! ...
We were going by Indian Railways !!
The excitement drained out by each passing minute on that big Station clock .

Finally , after almost 110 Minutes of delay our train arrived .. We were charged up ..

Sleeping , Eating , Singing , Teasing , Beating we had so much to do that the six hour journey felt like seconds .
We reached the Holy (Read Dirty) Haridwar Railway Station around 11 P.M .

Did I mention we were 13 friends together ? Never mind , so out of the total only 2 % were feeling sleepy . We just threw our stuff in the Hote Room and went on to Harki Podi  for taking a dip . AT MIDNIGHT ..
The freezing water however gently whispered in our ears , "You Sure ?" .
The consensual answer of the majority was a No , a big fat No .

So , After just having a cold feat . I mean literally cold feat by putting them in the river we headed back to our place . Also important to mention the Tea Break we took in between .



This all was so new to most of us that we were not believing it is actually real ! It was really difficult to sleep for the soul , but the mind was nagging the eyes for not doing so ..

I was about to surrender but then there are friends ! I would have uttered some hurtful stuff back then , but  I really enjoyed the 4 am chats on the top of the roof .  

The alarm of the next day was set at 6 am , we had to leave for Rishikesh for camping . I decided to capitalize on the 2 hours window , but ended up a Goat for a Prank . Its good that I don't get scared easily ;)

Day 2 

After the *Full of* Sound sleep of first day , We woke up tired but the imagination of putting up in a camp and sitting next to a bonfire worked as an antidote .

Fighting for "Who would go next in the Washroom ?" we got ready . Ok it may sound a bit filmy but yes we were feeling like we are in Roadies and we have set out for our next task .

Nothing is better than an open car with stereos blaring out loud music  for traveling in such places , Unfortunately our trip was not sponsored by Karan Johar . But , a two side open auto with "Fevicol Se" leaking out of the speakers was close enough .

Singing , Dancing , Ducking down on bumpy roads we reached Rishikesh . It was an hour drive but the minutes passed like words in a rap song .

"Paddy Adventures" , Yes the company that arranged the rafting and camping programmes for us *Sir , Advertising Partner , Can I  ?" . I don't know whether we were VIPs or Paddy Bhai is that generous for all but he was there to Welcome us in Rishikesh itself .

Enough of details , next thing we did was boarded on Safaris for going to the Camps , A tipsy turny road led us to the venue . The journey was full of "OO BC" , "Awww" *Yes Girls* and "Wo Dekh Yaaar" , You can imagine the landscape ! 

As soon as we stuffed our luggage in our respective tents , we hit the shores . Wearing life jackets , we entered the waves also . It was just amazing , the cold , pure water of Ganga was soothing the tired soul of ours . 

After the fun and frolics of a couple of hours , we returned to our camps * Barely 10 m from the river* . It was lunch time , Must appreciate the food *Paddy Bhai I deserve some profit ;) * .

 The afternoon saw us watching beach volleyball  and sitting on the shores and throwing pebbles in the river . 

Did i describe the view from the tent ? Just like the painting we use to make in our Kinder-Garten times , a huge Hill behind which the sun sets a free flowing river and some more hills in the close vicinity .

Finally came the bonfire time , with snacks and stories of ghosts nothing could have been more comfortable than the warmth of the fire .

Well , I don't believe in Ghosts and so didn't my friends in Sleeping . To be precise , the five of them . It was adventure time , around the storke of midnight we decided to go for a stroll near the beach area . Went a little too far , then I realized the light emitted from the lantern in my hand , Yeah I had to put in efforts . I now know why wild animals killed a lot of people in the olden times ! 

After a successful prank of one , the rest were scared . After abusing him we decided to go back to the base camp *Always Wanted to Say That* . The scenary I must say was life the sets of Twilight , The big full moon ahead and Hills with gaint trees around .

Finally , after playing some more pranks we surrendered to sleep .

Day 3 .

Rafting Day .

The day all of us were waiting for .

After just some introductory lessons we boarded in our raft . Rafting doesn't sound much cool , Well its full name is WHITE WATER RAFTING . Seems a big thing now , hai na ?

There was one "Raft Guy" with us , the good thing about him was he was always smiling *It annoyed us later , Will tell you* . The journey started with "Twinkle Twinkle little star , Ganga Maiyya Super Star" other such brilliant work of poetry :p

It was going all well in the plain water , but as soon as the first rapid *Area with gigantic waves* came my shorts were wet even from the inside . The cold water just splashed us to a corner of the raft , although the "Raft Guy" managed to save it from flipping .

Then we crossed some more Rapids , now the fear was being transformed into the adrenaline rush and we were enjoying . Then came plain waters , our "Raft Guy" told us to jump out of the raft .

Yes , now we were annoyed by his smile . Terrified , holding the ropes of the raft we asked "Bhaiyaa , Koi Dubb Jaye to Aap Bachane Jate Ho Na ?" he with a smile and a modest face replied "Nahi , bhaiyaa . Nahi Aayenge" .

However , we gathered the courage and left the ropes . A.M.A.Z.I.N.G was the word *Actually it was Bhencho* , it was like floating on the clouds *Life Jackets* . Beneath us was the 80 ft. river .

After 15 minutes of "Swimming" he pulled us back on the raft . By now , we started to love  him a little less . Fair Enough No ?

The 16 KMs felt barley 60 Meters , and next we know we were lifting our raft out of water .

That day we stayed in Rishikesh itself , Thanks again Paddy Bhai the resort you recommended us was awesome . I fear they would not think of us the same way ;) , Well there were few complaints about the ruckus we created on a regular basis . 

Day 4

The last day , we went back to Haridwar . The three days were for us , this day we thought of buying Souvenirs for family and friends and Girlfriends *Not Me* . The first thing you can take as souvenir from Haridwar is the holy "GangaJal" *Damn You Student of the Year* , we took it and went shopping for other handicrafts and clothes .

The next day we had our train at 5 AM .

"Koi Nahi Soyega Aaj Saala" was the motto of the night , Yes most of them still slept . 

Day 5

This time we used all of our seats , came back sleeping the whole journey .

Days of Distress

Well , Day 6 .. 7 .. 15 .. 18 . Till the very recent present we suffered from hangover . Chill Parents , the Holiday Hangover .

Alcohol is banned in Haridwar for its the only place where you can get high by being sane .

Conclusion 

The five days taught us the lessons we would have not learn in a 5 years span . You gotta take the wind by your own little wings if you want to rule the sky later .

Parents and Teachers can just feed you with knowledge , only friends can experiment it with you .