I was just analyzing the response to my previous post. It was quite lukewarm.
- The average time spent on the post was close to 3 1/2 minutes - a clear indication that the readers either just skimmed through it or left when they were halfway through.
- Some even came up with suggestions asking me to spice up the narration.
- Blogs on experiences are ubiquitous. To stand out, I need to distinguish myself either by citing incidents which people have never heard of (or) by analyzing a situation differently (reminds me of 'Freakonomics').
To sum it up, I hadn't lived up to the expectations of my readers.
But I promise to come up with a better one next time.
Friday, January 1, 2010
The Unwinding: Part I
THE DANDELI ADVENTURE (Jan 2009)
It was the end of an MBA season and enervation was felt all around. We all needed a bit of unwinding. That’s when one of my friends, Vamsi, the most proactive of the lot (hope he visits my blog to read this) drew an ambitious plan of visiting 2 places, viz. Goa and Dandeli, in one go (These 2 places are almost 500km apart). Sundeep and Ashwin chipped in with their opinions (accommodation, food, places to visit…the whole itinerary) and the trio came up with an initial draft (Sorry folks, in case I had missed someone in the Planning Committee :-P). After a brief brouhaha that ensued, we all decided to hit Dandeli on Jan 23rd and Goa on the 25th.
There were 6 of us from Chennai and 7 from Bangalore ( all guys, :( ). Bangalore was the meeting point and we were to leave for Dandeli on the ‘Rani Chennamma’ express ( 22nd evening ). I volunteered to book tickets for the Chennai – Bangalore journey. The travel plan looked like:
Chennai -> Bangalore -> Dandeli -> Goa -> Dandeli ->Bangalore ->Chennai.
(21st) (22nd) (23rd, 24th) (25th) (26th) (26th) (27th)
It was Jan 21st and we were all game for the adventure. The Chennai – Bangalore journey wasn’t much of an event and I will take the luxury of discounting the same.
Next morning (22nd), we were at one of our friend’s house in Murugeshpalya. The rest of the Bangalore folks were to meet us at the station that evening. The first half of the day was spent without much activity except for sleeping and eating. As planned, we all got together at the station. Many of us had not seen each other for long time. The usual pranks and laughter resulting from such a fusion caught the attention of other passengers. But who cares????
The train was on time and off we were on our adventure…Some of us even contemplated on dancing atop the train (Chaiya Chaiya Chaiya!!!) as the train passed through a rustic landscape…but some sense prevailed and we decided to occupy our berths instead.
Next morning(23rd) we were there at the Alnawar station waiting for the Cab to reach the place we were to be put up. Vamsi had made all the arrangements for our stay at a govt owned dorm (it was ridiculously cheap – Rs.75 per head). After the morning rituals, we headed to Sindheri Rocks. The place was on the banks of Kalinadhi and wasn’t frequented by many tourists (Dandeli, as such, is not pretty developed as a tourist spot and reaching any place involves a bit of trekking). It was, nevertheless, fascinating to see a huge block of granite carved out beautifully by the river.
It was 2pm by the time we finished our lunch, and next on the cards was White-Water Rafting. By Dandeli standards, the prices were exorbitant – 800 per head. There was a 5 km stretch that had to be covered in about 2 hours, i.e. 2.5km/hr– sounds simple right?? But that wasn’t all. All of us were amateurs with no prior experience and rowing a boat on rapids was even tougher than taming a horse. Each boat had an experienced instructor who helped us with the maneuvers. But for him, we wouldn’t have moved an inch and toppled over right at the start.
The stretch was very tortuous with intermittent rapids and rocks on the way. It turned out to be a perfect adventure. But all this euphoria lasted only till we reached a place where the water was relatively still. We were ahead of time and some of the guys ventured to take a dip in the river. I resisted the temptation (I didn’t know to swim). But there was this sudden gush of insanity and I dared to jump into the river relying completely on the life-jacket. What followed was the scariest moment of my life. The river was deeper than expected as I struggled to stay afloat. To make things worse, the river had driven me away from the boat towards the next rapid. The instructor too was helpless as it was him who was directing the boat. All that he could do was to get the boat towards me before I hit the rapid.
What next? It’s anybody’s guess. Rising to the occasion, my friends, with directions from the instructor, gave their best in getting the boat towards me.
Once, on the boat, I realized that there was another friend who had dislocated his shoulder (identity - concealed deliberately) in the process. Luckily, we were just at the end of our rafting. We took him to a nearby clinic where the doctor treated his wounds with the usual bandage. He was warned against straining his shoulders for the next couple of days.
After a tiring day, there were some tough decisions to be taken that night. My friend's injury was serious and we didn't want to aggravate it. We were all set to call off the trip and return home !!!
Read Part II (to be uploaded) to find more.
Some serious lessons were learnt here:
- You may have the heart of a Lion, but all that, is immaterial. Know your limits/potential and act accordingly.
- Do not venture into unknown waters, hoping to be rescued by some else in case adversity strikes.
- Lastly, the most obvious, learn to swim :)
It was the end of an MBA season and enervation was felt all around. We all needed a bit of unwinding. That’s when one of my friends, Vamsi, the most proactive of the lot (hope he visits my blog to read this) drew an ambitious plan of visiting 2 places, viz. Goa and Dandeli, in one go (These 2 places are almost 500km apart). Sundeep and Ashwin chipped in with their opinions (accommodation, food, places to visit…the whole itinerary) and the trio came up with an initial draft (Sorry folks, in case I had missed someone in the Planning Committee :-P). After a brief brouhaha that ensued, we all decided to hit Dandeli on Jan 23rd and Goa on the 25th.
There were 6 of us from Chennai and 7 from Bangalore ( all guys, :( ). Bangalore was the meeting point and we were to leave for Dandeli on the ‘Rani Chennamma’ express ( 22nd evening ). I volunteered to book tickets for the Chennai – Bangalore journey. The travel plan looked like:
Chennai -> Bangalore -> Dandeli -> Goa -> Dandeli ->Bangalore ->Chennai.
(21st) (22nd) (23rd, 24th) (25th) (26th) (26th) (27th)
It was Jan 21st and we were all game for the adventure. The Chennai – Bangalore journey wasn’t much of an event and I will take the luxury of discounting the same.
Next morning (22nd), we were at one of our friend’s house in Murugeshpalya. The rest of the Bangalore folks were to meet us at the station that evening. The first half of the day was spent without much activity except for sleeping and eating. As planned, we all got together at the station. Many of us had not seen each other for long time. The usual pranks and laughter resulting from such a fusion caught the attention of other passengers. But who cares????
The train was on time and off we were on our adventure…Some of us even contemplated on dancing atop the train (Chaiya Chaiya Chaiya!!!) as the train passed through a rustic landscape…but some sense prevailed and we decided to occupy our berths instead.
Next morning(23rd) we were there at the Alnawar station waiting for the Cab to reach the place we were to be put up. Vamsi had made all the arrangements for our stay at a govt owned dorm (it was ridiculously cheap – Rs.75 per head). After the morning rituals, we headed to Sindheri Rocks. The place was on the banks of Kalinadhi and wasn’t frequented by many tourists (Dandeli, as such, is not pretty developed as a tourist spot and reaching any place involves a bit of trekking). It was, nevertheless, fascinating to see a huge block of granite carved out beautifully by the river.
It was 2pm by the time we finished our lunch, and next on the cards was White-Water Rafting. By Dandeli standards, the prices were exorbitant – 800 per head. There was a 5 km stretch that had to be covered in about 2 hours, i.e. 2.5km/hr– sounds simple right?? But that wasn’t all. All of us were amateurs with no prior experience and rowing a boat on rapids was even tougher than taming a horse. Each boat had an experienced instructor who helped us with the maneuvers. But for him, we wouldn’t have moved an inch and toppled over right at the start.
The stretch was very tortuous with intermittent rapids and rocks on the way. It turned out to be a perfect adventure. But all this euphoria lasted only till we reached a place where the water was relatively still. We were ahead of time and some of the guys ventured to take a dip in the river. I resisted the temptation (I didn’t know to swim). But there was this sudden gush of insanity and I dared to jump into the river relying completely on the life-jacket. What followed was the scariest moment of my life. The river was deeper than expected as I struggled to stay afloat. To make things worse, the river had driven me away from the boat towards the next rapid. The instructor too was helpless as it was him who was directing the boat. All that he could do was to get the boat towards me before I hit the rapid.
What next? It’s anybody’s guess. Rising to the occasion, my friends, with directions from the instructor, gave their best in getting the boat towards me.
Once, on the boat, I realized that there was another friend who had dislocated his shoulder (identity - concealed deliberately) in the process. Luckily, we were just at the end of our rafting. We took him to a nearby clinic where the doctor treated his wounds with the usual bandage. He was warned against straining his shoulders for the next couple of days.
After a tiring day, there were some tough decisions to be taken that night. My friend's injury was serious and we didn't want to aggravate it. We were all set to call off the trip and return home !!!
Read Part II (to be uploaded) to find more.
Some serious lessons were learnt here:
- You may have the heart of a Lion, but all that, is immaterial. Know your limits/potential and act accordingly.
- Do not venture into unknown waters, hoping to be rescued by some else in case adversity strikes.
- Lastly, the most obvious, learn to swim :)
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