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Published: January 11th 2012
HRISHIKESH DIARIES (June 2011)
I was excited about making this trip. Travelling alone to a whole new city, doing something as daring as a bungee jump, living a nomadic life for 36 hours; staying awake during the day and sleeping on the bus, in the night.
I reached the Inter State Bus Terminus and boarded the bus at 10:45 pm. It was expected to reach Rishikesh at six in the morning. But when we were in Roorkee, the bus got a flat tyre and was held up there for more than two hours. Once we entered Rishikesh, to my shock, the bus got a flat tyre again! This time it was a different one. I took a local autorickshaw for the rest of the journey.
It started raining on the way and I got drenched by the time I reached the office of 'Jumpin Heights'. The people who run Jumpin heights are ex army officers. One of them happened to be there that day. I spoke to him for a while and he offered to drive me to the market. Once there, I met the lead instructors, Martina and Ryan. I boarded their bus, from there which was going to take us to the top of the mountains. It was a wonderful ride. I could see the river Ganga on the way, flowing across the valley.
Once on the top, I had my breakfast and got ready for the jump.
'Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the ability to overcome it' - these were some words written on the spot.
The instructors harnessed me up all well. They were very particular about telling me exactly what they were doing and what I had to do.
Soon, I was at the edge.
'Take a leap of faith and meet your Creator for a few seconds'. This is something that I had read somewhere before my trip.
I was relaxed and composed and wasn't scared at all. It was time.
Martina went '3-2-1- BUNGEE!!!!!'
And then I took my leap of faith.
Once I was in the air, free falling under gravity, I got a feeling that wasn't like anything I had experienced before - I let out a scream. It is really something, when you are falling down, with nothing under your feet, nothing to hold on to. Having absolutely no control over my body, I realised the power of the Almighty and how small I am in front of it. Those few seconds were out of this world.
Minutes later I was on the ground. They gave me a badge that read 'I've got guts!!!'. They then gave me a bottle of water and showed me the way to trek up the mountains, back to the office.
Later on I had a chat with the instructors. We discussed my jump and also spoke about various other adventure sports.
The bus then dropped me back at the market.
I then took a walk across Lakshman Jhula. It's a bridge across the Ganga, just over a few feet wide, that is open to men, women, two wheelers and cows. 😊
I went to a dhaba and had lunch.
Rishikesh attracts all sorts of people. I could see people like me, who were there for an adventure (the place has many options for adventure lovers, like rock climbing, bungee jumping, canyon swing, river rafting, trekking and flying fox). There were hippies
apparently in search of 'ganja'. I could see devotees, blind in their faith, who were touching the road side cow and saying ' Gai mata ka aashirwad le lo'.
Later on in the evening I had a red bull. Rishikesh being a pilgrimage spot, does not have any shops that sell alcohol. I did some more sightseeing and then boarded the bus back to Delhi.
Link to my video -
Ankur Sharma
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Keep Up The Adventure Spirit
That's gr8 Arjun.....afterall Darr ke aage Jeet hai!!!