adventure sports adventures body surfing camping nature white water rafting

I’ve just come back from what could possibly be one of the most mind blowing holidays’ ever !

For the first time, I gave up complete control and let ‘someone else organize’ a holiday and I just went along with it … no questions asked (okay that’s a bit of a lie – I did question quite a few things but never really got a response and was told to ‘shut up’ and ‘enjoy the vacation’)

I’m not the most religious person that you’d meet – but that’s not to say that I don’t believe in God.  I do believe there is an entity that watches over us all and is the creator / coordinator of life !  Yeah coordinator is my way of describing it ! hehe

So where did I end up on this vacation (which by the way is the first proper vacation I’ve taken since July 2008) … I found myself ‘camping’ on a silver sand beach right on the river Ganges … yup that’s right – the Holy River !  

And when I say camping – I really mean ‘camping’ … which is something I’ve never done before … the closest I’ve been camping has been desert overnighters whilst growing up in Dubai and even then those were quite luxurious.

We were camping out in Rishikesh, which is a city in the state of Uttarkhand.  The city is also known as the ‘gateway to the Himalayas’ and is about 25 kms away from another holy city ‘Haridwar’.  It’s also recently come to be known as the adventure capital of India.

I went out white water rafting on the Ganges; kayaking; rappelling; body surfing; stayed in a really funky tent; was petrified of using the make-shift loo’s at night; sat by a campfire every night and snuggled up in a blanket every night after zipping my tent shut !

The pictures above are various views of the actual campsite – it was spread across the beach - maybe a kilometer or so and proved to be a lot of fun =)  The tin can with the mirror was basically our ‘freshening up’ zone !

This was a camp organized by a company called AquaTerra and I must say – they were excellent.  I spent 5 nights out there and just gave myself up to nature and literally forgot about civilization i.e. switched my phone off (I have NEVER done this); no laptop (this was hard!); no electricity; and best of all – I just stopped ‘thinking’

If you have ever contemplated a camping / rafting trip in India – then I highly recommend the above company and definitely make a trip down to Rishikesh.  The natural beauty that you can find out there is just breath taking !

adventures animal escapades random thoughts scaredy cat scary cats such is life

I’ve managed to escape unscathed last night with nothing more than a slightly bruised ego. 

I look back at my day and am just not really surprised by the sheer number of random incidents that took place  yesterday !  After all it is my life we are talking about !

Morning

Late for work because a cart contained egg racks tumbled over and blocked the road coming off a small flyover.

Was left standing in a drizzle waiting for my car to arrive after being stuck at a traffic junction

Met up with RR for lunch at Hard Rock Cafe where our verbal exchange proved to be spicier than the Tabasco

I got a call confirming that there would a be photo shoot (yes !) for a gadget & lifestyle magazine (yes you read right) at my place today and I had to rush to get back home

Evening

Went to pick up NC with MG and headed over to the ATM to withdraw some cash; got stuck in nightmare traffic because Sonia Gandhi (famous politician) was in town for the opening of the Worli-Bandra Sea Link; got to the ATM only to realise that I had left my hand bag at home so had no debit card to use for the withdrawal.

Got back home; got some work done; MG disappeared which meant that NC and I were left to ourselves to try and figure out how to create a wireless sharing network between two laptops.

Yeah that didn’t go so well.  My brother came to the rescue and labelled the network connection as ‘Idiot Sisters’ !! A bit rude I think LOL

MG was still MIA and NC decided to transfer some music across to me that was fresh from Jakarta … erm yeah since we weren’t a part of the whole ‘setting up the network’ process – we didn’t quite know what we were doing .. so the files NC was sending to me … just got copied … onto her own laptop – and we’d basically spent about 40 minutes waiting for the transfer to complete !!

Then NC couldn’t find her house keys anywhere – and it was coming to 1 a.m … so the 3 of us trekked down towards my car to check if her keys fell out there … 

Luckily we found the keys, said our good nights, and as I was about to step in towards the elevator … I saw them … the menacing three toms !

Lately there have been quite a few cats in my building .. and here standing at the steps of my block were 3 huge tom cats – who were prowling around near the elevator … and honestly – they were just stalking the area as if it were their damn territory !! I swear they could have passed for the cats in this picture !

It took us all a few minutes of persuading and shooing the cats away – and then finally MG had to go and tickle one of the toms under it’s chin to try to distract it from launching its’ assault on me whilst I tried very hard to get into the elevator !!

I even shrieked a little bit … I’m a dog lover .. not a cat person … cat’s seem to like me but they are evil creatures and can switch moods at any time .. Trust me – I know – I’ve been scratched by a kitten I was kitten-sitting – in my sleep !!! the punk came and sat on me – woke me up – and then clawed my face !!!

So I ran myself into the elevator whilst MG distracted the big boss cat which was purring away at his chin stroking – and safely locked myself up in my room – in bed – with only a slightly bruised ego – as two of my friends saw me at my chicken best !

adventures cars driving life people perceptions reflections road

In one of my earlier posts, I have mentioned how I can never seem to have a 'normal' week ...everyone's definition of 'normal' would be different .. and I'm quite aware of this .. but honestly, the things that I seem to go through just don't appear to be 'normal' .. there are days when I just wish the Lord above would 'give me a break' !!

Tues 3rd March
Had gone to bed really late and had made plans for breakfast with my cousin TC to her flight to NY. Hopped over to Indigo Deli, picked up some yummy chocolate croissants and made my way over to my aunt's place ONLY to discover that she'd already left for the airport !! =(

Made my way to the Mayfair Banqueting hall as my company was organizing a post-wedding screening of the event for the bride's family ... it was nice to catch up with everyone; we had a good laugh over the screening; and had a delicious spread for lunch =)

The day is finally over and I drop my cousin NC off to meet her cousins (remember I've mentioned we're a huge family!) .. this lady wanted me to drop her off on the side of the road .. it's a damn good thing I didn't - as we waited in the car for almost 40 minutes ! Ended up heading to HRC to show her cousins around, took some pics, and got some souvenirs. This was a good day.

Wed 4th March
Aaaaaah this is where the adventure begins ! So TC has missed her flight yesterday and we manage to have our breakfast date which was great fun =)

NC & I are heading home from work, and I take the same route every day to & from work unless there's a detour to be made. Normally I don't drive - but my driver has the had the week off - so I was behind the wheels. The route is near Mahalaxmi Station that goes onto this road known as 'Saat Rasta' - literally '7 Roads' as it's a major roundabout with these 7 roads going off in different directions.

Somehow that day - I don't know what quite happened - but instead of taking my regular turnoff - I took this other road. Since NC & I were both talking, neither of us quite realised this until we got further into the road and then the drive basically turned into the Road to Hell !! There were cars, buses, bikes, bicycles and people everywhere !! We couldn't turn around, and all we could do was go ahead ! We'd reached a point at a junction where there appeared to be utter & total chaos - it was like watching the 'Chaos Theory' in action ! I had actually folded my hands and was on the verge of begging people to let me take a left so as to get us out of there (and to save my poor car ofcourse !)

NC is now shouting instructions from inside the car to people to move; and I've got to stop myself from shutting my eyes at the thought of the cars from the next lane banging into me; one guy was highly amused at our driving tactics and spent a good minute laughing at us before directing traffic to STOP so we could at least move along on the road .... Finally we got out of there ! It must have only been a matter of 15 minutes - but it felt like an hour and we both heaved a huge sigh of relief at having gotten out alive !


Thurs 5th March
The day was not so bad - we were getting a free lunch at Little Italy due to a major mishap the week before with our food !! My team heads out for a nice lunch - and jeez we all felt like stuffed turkeys by the time we were done with the meal ! Ironically, the 'best dishes' were not on the menu according to the manager - and that was a 'good thing' because they weren't so great !!

NC & I are now completely prepared for our ride home - we laughed about the incident from the night before - and were actually 'looking' out for the 'right' turnoff ... which we took ... or so we thought !

Don't even ask 'how' this happened - but about 100 meters into the alley (yes I call it an alley as it really can't even be called a road) - nothing looks familiar (but then again maybe it never will since we tend to sit back for this particular drive and not actually go behind the wheel) ... Luckily for us, we were able to make a u-turn and get back onto the roundabout and take off on another route ... Guess what ... yup - it wasn't the right one ... I mean it was the right one but from another direction but it wasn't the one that I normally take ... Mind boggling !!! In all my years of driving I don't think that's ever happened to me ! At least there was road space on this route - and a slight change from the every day routine.

Fri 6th March
nothing too interesting happened today that was note-worthy ... I'd gone over to NC's place to catch up her sister & her kids ... they are sooo cute ! absolute munchkins ! My elder niece decided that today she didn't like me very much - and told me so =( they were painting today and it was great to just watch them playing about. Couldn't be bothered to go out today ... am still recovering from the OD of family weddings !

Sat 7th March
I had to go into work today ... my day started off really well .. had gone to the gym, had a great workout, and was all set to link with my client at the office. On-route to work (yes through that very same route !!) I hit a traffic light - no problem right ... WRONG !!

Some jackass thought he'd be smart and try to cut a right at the signal - and of course hits my car on the front left =( and has the nerve to come out of his car and look at me as if I've done something wrong ! He gets back into his car and continues to make this mad dash to the right and in the process ends up hitting someone else ! Talk about stupidities !

I was actually impressed with myself for not having gotten out of the car and given him a piece of mind .. of course the whole way to the office, I kept thinking to myself 'shit I should check how badly my car has been damaged' but then thought 'breathe in, breathe out, no point getting worked up about this, where the f**k is the driver when you need him!!'

Got to work, and sat with the editor of my clients' wedding DVD's ... I thought this was a 2-3 hour job at the most ... what I didn't realise is that it was gonna take up almost 11 hours of my damn day !!! My whole Saturday was shot =( My client VKD was almost as restless as I was - and her hubby absconded and linked with a few of his mates (I reckon both VKD & I wanted to do the same but duty calls!)

I left work just past 11 p.m !! I was home by 11:30 p.m - my phone battery died on the way =( My cousins and some friends were heading out .. slight miscommunication meant that I had to wade through a body of people in a small bar and get absolutely grossed out !!! went back to the bar below my building, linked with my mates, headed to another club where I linked with my cousins .. I was just too spaced out though ... I didn't drink as was driving and had to a do a voice-over the next day

Sun 8th March
Happy Womens' Day !! I was meant to spend the day at a BBQ & Pool party ... did that work out .. NO =( this whole week hasn't been in my favour ! I was doing a voice-over which shouldn't have taken more than 2 hours .. but it's India ... due to some technical snags, and my own voice apparently going 'sqeaky' (I have a husky voice !) it took us about 5 hours to get this project over with ... after which I hit my mate's pool party ... but everyone was out of the pool, I'd left my bikini in the car, and it was just a hassle to go back and get it !

On the way home, met up with some friends and family members (no I don't normally hang with family - it just so happens that there's a ton of them in town!) at HRC where we chilled out. My gym workout went for a toss - I helped myself to cheese nachos and potatoe skins !! I couldn't help it ! I was tired, hungry and cranky that I'd lost my whole weekend