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Wednesday, October 10, 2007



this is just the continuation of the previous post "Episode 1"...

Day One:

Eventhough lot of people felt sleepy, since we reached the house at Magundi at 6:30am and didnt have proper sleep last night, none was interested to have a nap. On seeing the Greenery around the house, everyone started shooting. not with the gun, but with their Cameras, at all the places around the house, like backyard, swing, small hut, Tree house and didn't leave the wooden elephant statue in the hall too. Then we found Frisbee disc from the kit which the CAPTURE guys has got for the trip. Thiagarajan n Pradeep started playing in the path in-front of the house. I haven't touched Frisbee disc before. so, to be in safe side, i got N73 from Thiagarajan. Then what, Click Click Click.. After a long time i hear that sound from camera instead from computer mouse :) . On seeing these two playing, everyone got inspired and joined the game. So, we went to the large open space in-front the house. We divided into two groups and the fun began. The max people of the other group were of Tech Team. And unfortunately, Anbu came into our group n he was the only Tech Team guy in our group. So, most of the throws from the other group ended in Anbu's hands. That too the throws from Swathi n Shruthi always went into Anbu's hands. When any of these two takes the disc in their hands to throw, we all start chanting Anbu's Name, and surprisingly, all the throws went to anbu ONLY. After an hour of fun, we heard someone saying "Breakfast is ready". The next moment, half the crowd were at the dining hall. And i think by this time you would have guessed who would be the first person.. its me, ha ha ha... We had a good Breakfast with hot coffee/tea. While we're having breakfast, parry told that since there is only two raft (at max only twelve people can go) we have to go in two batches and the first batch will start right after the breakfast n the second batch after the lunch.

Awesome White Water Rafting Experience:

Thiagarajan, Pradeep n Me opted for the first batch along with seven other members ( we decided to go as ten in one batch and eleven in the other). While we were getting ready for the rafting, the second batch members started playing cricket. we started in the bus and stopped at the main gate waiting for the raft to come. They said that they will be bringing the rafts in a jeep and the bus will follow them to the starting point which is around 11 km from here. so everyone was predicting that the vehicle which come next will be the raft-vehicle. In the meanwhile, pradeep, utilized golden oppurtunity to sleep and slept in the bus and we got down and started another photo session there. (wherever we find time, we start clicking). So finally after almost half-an-hour wait, the jeep carrying the rafts arrived and we followed that jeep to the starting point.

Once we reached the starting point, we all got down from the bus and asked not to carry any valuables with us during the ride. those who had their camera and mobile left them in the bus and went near the jeep. The trainer then told that we need to carry those two rafts to the banks of the river which is around 100m from the road. Even tough it was not heavy, it needs at least six people to lift that to the banks. Finally, the most awaited moment was just minutes away from us. We were given a life-jacket , a helmet and a paddle. On wearing this we looked like people jumped out from the Halo game. Of the Eleven people there, only Parry and Sowmya had previous experience of rafting. We divided ourself into two groups, 6 members in one raft and 5 members plus one CAPTURE guy in the other. Each raft had one trainer taking care of that raft and most importantly the 6 members in that raft. Before stepping into the river on raft, One of the trainer gave instruction of how and where to sit on the raft, hot to hold the life-line rope so that you wont fall into the river and how to row forward, backward, etc. Once this 5 minutes session about the raft and the procedure to be followed is over, we jumped into the raft and went into the river. I was in the first raft with Parry and Thiagarajan in the front, pradeep n me right behind them , shruthi n sowmya behind us and the trainer at the last controlling the direction of the raft and giving instructions.

The first thing that the trainer told us was "This is a team event. Co-ordination and synchronization is very very important in this". So, he will be giving the instructions to do a forward stroke, backward stroke, stop rowing, right forward left backward ( those poeple sitting right to him should do forward stroke and those at his left should do backward stroke. basically to steer the raft leftside), etc (all the permutations and combinations of these different things)... but the most important thing here is, whatever the stroke may be, we have to do a stroke on each count of the leader. Our leader here was parry. so on hearing each count from him, we do the stroke, just to maintain the sync. Wow... this is the real Team Event... After his instructions we started rowing. After a minute of rowing, the first rapid ( A rapid is a section of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in water flow and turbulence) was in our sight. So we charged ourself towards that rapid just like a tiger attacking its prey. we're right on target and the water splashed on us. Wonderful experience. and then we were in the calm section of the river where there was literally no rapids. Our Trainer told that we have to hold the life-line rope when we are not rowing as that rope is so important that if by chance we fall into the river, we can get hold of that rope so that we wont go away from the raft and its dangerous to get into water. And he also added that if by chance we fall into the river and are not holding that life-line rope, because of the water current we would move away from the raft where we cant reach that person by our hands. He said that in that case, there's a rope bag, where there is a long rope. so even if we move far away from the raft, he would throw that rope towards us so that we can get hold of that firmly and he'll be able to pull us towards the raft and rescues us.
After all the explanations on how dangerous it is to get into river, we asked whether we can, by any chance, get into the water. He immediately said "everyone can jump into the water now". We all were shocked. Everyone had doubt that he's serious or jus kidding. We again asked it. He said "you can". the next moment everyone jumped into the water. And the catch here is only me and shruthi know swimming. so, we were able to move away from the raft and enjoyed the freezing waterride. rest of them holded the life-line rope so that they wont go away from the raft. Everyone were floating in the water. Thanks to the life-jacket. After 10 mins of fun in the water, we're back on the raft (the fact is we couldnt get into the raft by ourself. He literally pulled everyone onto the raft). After this refreshing experience, we targeted the next rapid. and after sometime we faced another rapid too. After this 10 km journey in raft, our trainer told that we're just a km away from our destination ie the house. all of us were discussing about our experience by jumping into the water. when we were discussing about it, our trainer told that "you all can jump into water again now". this time no one asked any question further to him. the next moment all were in the water. Eventhough i asked thiagarajan n sowmya to leave the life-line rope and try swimming or atleast float on water without holdin anything, they refused that time. this time, being the last opportunity, they dared to leave the rope and enjoyed freely floating in water. After few minutes, me and thiagarajan went far away from the raft and thiagrajan said he's not able to come back on his own. so he holded on to my life-jacket and i pulled him to the raft. that was an spectacular experience for both of us. to reach the house, we need to take a hard "V" turn against the flow of the river. Somehow, we all rowed hardly together and reached our destination. from that bank, the house was about 10 mins walk. and we need to carry the raft few meters into the bank of the river. The river bank was so muddy, my legs was completely into the mud. wonderful experience for me and my shoes too (which was completely filled with mud) :)..
And since we all were completely wet, we couldnt capture those wonderful moments into pictures. :(

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