A Turbulent Ride on Cauvery .. (Pics to follow)

It was inexplicable & exhilarating experience, on Aug 25, rafting down the Cauvery River at Bheemeswari (Cauvery Fishing Camp), a good 100 kms from the Big-Busy-Bangalore..

My most coveted WHITE_WATER_RAFTING, had assumed "Physical Occurence" at last..
We a team of 16 members, a part of INTEL CSE-INDIA, set out for this one day event that turned out to be a far more thrilling ordeal than planned !

We started by 8.30 from the heart of Bangalore in a little "Swaraj Mazda" (a typical Indian Tourist Vehicle..). Not much to narrate of the journey onward, though we had a zealous time with little games that all of the folks enjoyed ..
It all started with the Conventional, Traditional, Typical Indian Trip Starter :
ANTAKSHARI..
Then had a "Non-Stop Nonsense" time with funny questions & crazier/wittier answers !!

We reached the Cauvery Fishing Camp at 12.30 which was much in contrast to the itirinary timings (late!!!), so we hurried up to the spot ..

There we saw !! Huts , Houses , Hammocks amidst tall trees and a few feet way life-jackets & life-helmets (i wonder if they call them so !!) hanging, with paddles(oars) lying alongside.. So, these were to comprise our Rafting Equipment !
AND most prominent of all these scenes was the sight of the Cauvery, streaming down with a monsterly pace .. A couple of Rafts lay before us & we couldn't resist peeping in, to see how many frantic souls could be accomodated there & to draw a probability of adventure over tragedy :)
We posed by these rafts for photographs & moved closer to the Cauvery for few more !!

By 2 pm, we got the most anticipated "Call_For_Lunch".
After having done, we sensed that rafting was going to begin in few minutes.

Soon began a serious of formalities & precautionary steps prior to Rafting !!
A form to be signed, stating that the Rafting was to done at the individual's risk and listing all Dangers(i would prefer not mentioning them) that we could be faced with (cocktail of all Frightful & Terror-Striking words!!!!!!).
Next came the fastening up of the life-jacket & helmet (I prayed there mustn't arise a need for them..). We then took one paddle each and stood before the Guides who mounted on the Rafts(that lay on the mud ofcourse!!) & began the
Fundamental-Laws-of Rafting !! Lessons on how to sit on the Raft, Behave on the Raft, Paddle the Raft & Face any emergency were the major ones ..
"Team Effort" - this was the final lesson given to us, all Rafters were responsible directly for how the Raft behaves in the violent water !! Each one had of them had to put in effort ..

After this ended, we were assigned Rafts (6 per Raft,with a guide). We had to now carry this great Vehicle into its waters !! 6 of us assumed positions & put a hand to the Raft & lifted it .. Seemed pretty manageable as 7 of us shared the weight .

About 100 feet away, we put the Raft into water & were given lessons on how to get into the Raft & where to sit on it.. & to my utter fright, it was at the edges that we had to sit & Paddle, while the Raft did all its disco & drama, moving us over.. !!!
All of were got into the Raft & positioned ourselves holding the paddle with a pre-taught grip .. (Lessons of Life !!!!!)
Antony & myself were the Paddle-Lead (the front of the Raft), while rest sat behind us & our Guide at the opposite end ..
Our Guide then taught us the basic commands of Paddling namely "Forward Paddle", "Backward" & "Relax" ! All of these had to be done in harmony ..

Enough of instructions, & we cheered up hitting our paddles on the Raft & splashing them into the water. Our Guide signalled GO !!!!
"Forward Team","Forward","All together!!!", "Gently..." shouted the Guide & no wonder our Raft began to move faster into the mainstream :)
We paddled few counts before our Guide uttered "RELAX!!", we put our paddles on our laps & looked around .. Exactly in the middle were we, being carried downstream !
On the banks were thick forests & mountains hidden behind ..

We kept paddling forward with intervals of "Relax!!" for few mins ..
Until then life was smooth & we were enjoying this exercise !! There were lush green forests around at the banks with branches swinging over the water.

All of a sudden our Guide shouted "Here come the first RAPIDS!!" Not able to get him, I looked up & got the shock of my life !! 10 meters away was a totally distorted collection of huge waves falling deep down & rising up violently, splashing white water all around. Before we could imagine the onslaught, we were carried into it, DOWNnnnnn... with all of us clasping the Raft as firmly as we could, & then up with our Raft jerking heavily carrying us above!!
We got through several such tiny disturbances & amidst all this also had the fun of splashing water on the other Rafts racing nearby !

But the genuine fun was yet to begin :)
It was barely 20 mins of Rafting when it began Raining .. And this brought in a real aroma of excitement within us .. Within few minutes it was fully overcast & there descended a heavy downpour into the river, with rain drenching us completely !! I could feel the warmth beneath my life-jacket, amidst the cold water all around .. There was water all around, violent waves tumbling high & then in front & adding fuel to all this, Rain !!!
This was going to be a perfect experience (if we landed safe on the other bank, i thought !!!!)
We had rafted 5 kms by this time in 30 mins, & there were 3 more kms to clear ..
Our guide now told us that approaching us were couple of most beautiful & huge RAPIDS in that part of Cauvery ..(he called them by names, which I dont remember!)

We glanced at them & behold !!! There were a good amount of really violent & terrorizing waves dancing down .. (indeed huge RAPIDS).. I saw the Raft before us getting eaten up into these RAPIDS & for few seconds lost sight of it as it drifted so low into the bowls of the waves .. It then was tossed up high & the people in it gave a yell that sent shivers into me ! Soon we were going to be into this !!

We were carried nearer to it & i could now see the real depth of these RAPIDS, (we were to go all THIS HUGE WAY DOWN !!! ) & then come up ..!! Before I rehearsed the situation, people in my raft uttered a REAL-CRY & our Raft flowed frantically down, we shouted as hard as we could (out of Fear & Excitement), holding the Raft , fearing to lose balance ! Then looking up i saw the water level above us, & our Raft dashed into the waves climbing over it & we shouted yet again (with full vigour, this time) !! Enormous Water poured on us & our Raft was filled with water .. We opened our eyes & sensed that all of us were fine & we had a real thrill ..

We asked our Guide how many more RAPIDS were to come. There were some small ones that seemed pretty better after we had gone through this HUGE-ONE ..
We crossed all this & our guide told us about few places around these RAPIDS..
We did couple of "Forward Paddle","Backward" paddling & then could see the other Bank which was were our 8 kms ended .. Now all RAPIDS had ceased & we maneuvered our Raft quite easily towards our destination, trying to relish every final moment of our Rafting .. As we approached our Banks ,we had a hearty-CHEERS !! tossing our paddles into the water yet again ..
It was the end of a wonderful experience indeed..

It was raining cats & dogs by now and all of us were thoroughly drenched.
We waited for a jeep that took us back via the road to our starting point where we had coffee (a real necessity amidst all the wetness & shivers..).

By 6 pm, we departed from the Cauvery Fishing Camp & reached Bangalore by 9 pm !

Thus ended a trip whose memories shall linger in my heart forever !!!!!!

Captivating Captures !!

All games while travel ..

The "Cauvery Fishing Camp"

Beautiful Cauvery

Gearing up for the event..

Listening to instructions from the Guides

Carrying the Raft into water

Putting our Raft into the water

Getting Started

Our Guide Vishnu

"Flowing Cauvery" before it started Raining..

Our Team of Six

Myself Paddling ..