I guess I managed three or four strokes, a bare ten seconds, before the current of the flow gently caught my kayak and softly flipped me over in a slow-motion. Upside down in the water, but still seated in the kayak, which was on top of me, I was still in possession of the now completely useless paddle. And thus I executed my first wet exit in the middle of the river, and returned to the welcoming guffaw of my team on the surface.
The author paddling on the Kali river
It was in the wintry month of January in 2004 and we were a bunch of twelve software professionals from Delhi, heading towards a very snowy trekking adventure, in the middle of winter, to the mountain abode of Shiva -– the temple of Tungnath near Chopta ( ref: Chopta Chandrashila Trek )
On the way back, we had a day’s stop-over at Shivpuri, where Swami who captained our trip, surprised us with an icing to the whole trip by offering a supplement in form of whitewater rafting on Ganga. Bursting with the excitement and going gaga like only a newbie can at the sight of a ferocious rapid like “The Return to Sender”, we began our initiation to whitewaters with a choking, chilling and freezing ride in an inflated dingy on the Ganga — “Ganga mata ki jai”!
I think it was Dharmendra who was my raft’s helmsman. He, witnessing my enthusiasm and ease in the water (I happen to have captained my university’s water polo team), suggested that I should try kayaking in the flatter sections. I didn’t know the river well then, but I suppose it was the section between “Initiation” to the cliff-jumping rocks, when one of the rescue kayakers gracefully pulled in his craft by our lumbering raft, and smoothly releasing his spray-deck pulled himself overboard, signing that I could have a go at his kayak.
Confident and trembling with excitement (oh yes, after “Golf-Course”, there was enough adrenaline in my bloodstream to make my knees shiver; but it might have been the unsteady bottom of the raft ), I swung my feet overboard into the waiting kayak. Immediately I realized that kayaking surely presented a whole new set of rules, difficulties and uh… ‘fun’. Heh, it was not to be considered with the same ease as rafting.
My first settling-into a kayak floating in the middle of a flowing river, was to be an unforgettable precedence-setter to an innumerable clumsy and wet exits that I was to execute in the coming year of kayaking, until I learnt the elusive art of Eskimo-rolling. Awkward and more difficult than it looks when executed by a pro, I was finally in; that too without much loss of esteem in front of the team.
I am sure I had nothing on my mind, preoccupied that I was with all the new signals that my brain had to deal with, but in retrospect — it’s one hell of a confusing, frustrating and contradictory balancing art. My inner-ear, the balancing mechanism, was totally revolted at the situation and screamed completely incomprehensible and demanding commands to my body. In that precarious scenario, I was handed over the double bladed paddle with the complex instructions on how to use them. And cooing with the only warmth on that freezing winter afternoon, Swami encouraged me to row away from the raft.
I guess I managed three or four strokes, a bare ten seconds, before the current of the flow gently caught my kayak and softly flipped me over in a slow-motion. Upside down in the water, but still seated in the kayak, which was on top of me, I was still in possession of the now completely useless paddle. And thus I executed my first wet exit in the middle of the river, and returned to the welcoming guffaw of my team on the surface.
In consolation, I don’t think anybody else who tried that day managed any better or any drier.
Three weekends later, I signed up for whitewater kayaking lessons on Ganga which opened up a very absorbing chapter filled with adventure, exploration, river-life, friends and the overpowering grandeur of the Himalayas.
Kayak Lessons in progress ( courtesy Team 4 Adventure )
I started frequenting the meandering Ganga betwixt the calm, forested foothills of the Himalayas, weekend after weekend, slowly drinking in the maddening passion that drives a novice kayaker to point his boat towards thundering rapids. Between trembling in anticipation at the crescendo and the churning white of the ferocious river, and swimming long descents amdist stormy waves of cold water, I slowly learnt to master the capricious kayak.
The last two years have since been a time to understand and learn about mind, body, boat, river and water dynamics. Literally a time of kayaking-spree on various sections of the Ganga, Alaknanda and other rivers, I learnt to read and anticipate the congested flow of a river losing its altitude rapidly. I learnt to keep the kayak upright even when the freezing waters churned and boiled, to upright it when flipped over, and to also surf and play in the midst of it all.
And since then, there has been no looking back on all the kayaking adventures attempted, rapids swum (uh.. also kayaked successfully of course), rivers run, nights spent on a white empty beaches between the river and the forest in a knot of camaraderie by the fire; and mornings drinking in the glory of the Himalayas and its rivers.
TEAM 4 ADVENTURE operates a very comprehensive 08 days whitewater kayaking trip which is suitable to first time boaters : Whitewater Kayaking: Comprehensive. I would recommend this to all enthusiasts who wish to enter this exciting world of whitewater kayaking.
