Rushh

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What are you going do this weekend? Remain enslaved to the concrete-and-steel worlds of malls,multiplexes and the monotomous? Well, if you live by the coast,how about escaping to the sea instead?

To sail away into the surreal sunset,with the wind in your hair,feeling the crispiness of the salty sea and feel the tension in your body and the noises in your head melt away into the sea waters!

And if you are seeking an adventure, you could join a race,feel the adrenaline rush as your yacht picks up speed and meets the swell of the waves,feel the thrill of the waters cuttings through to deliver a perfect maneuver. Take your pick from pleasure sailing on one end to racing on the other or anything between !

Fortunately,sailing is a pretty accessible and affordable sport with almost no prerequisites of age or physical fitness. “Its’ a complete sport-cerebal and physical,” says ace Yachtsman Madhavan Thirumalai,who competed in the Asian Games and trained for the US Olympics. He further explains,” Like chess it requires tactical moves, like golf it needs strategy and there are elements of teamwork and it requires stamina as in football”. Meet the sailing fraternity, the veterans or the novices and they will tell you in a chorus,”It’s exhilarating,come try it!”because they know you can’t help falling in love with it.

Then why, you’ll ask,is sailing so low profile? “Well,India has never been a seafaring nation. Parents often forbid children from taking part in water sports,”explains Ashish,a dynamic youngman, who was recently lured into sailing on a business trip to the city of Sails-Auckland,New Zealand.

India, with its long beautiful stretch of coastline ,warm weather conditions,steady wind patterns is highly enviable compared to other well known sailing destinations like New Zealand,UK and the US. “Wearing bermudas and t-shirt out there is unthinkable. You would have to don a heavy uncomfortable gear-a wetsuit,gloves and a headgear. Add to that the fact you would need to be an ace sailor to deal with nasty,changing wind directions,wind speeds and freezing temperatures,”says Shakeel,a 33 year-old lawyer and the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Asian Championship for sailing.

We are lucky then,cruising here on a sunny,breezy day - almost a year roud possibility. A bit sad though,we haven’t recognised our complete potential till date-something the Portuguese and the British did years ago! The Britis set up the the sailing infrastructure and harnessed the potential of the Bombay Harbor for trade well.

While India has advanced since then,it has not quite kept pace with New Zealand,UK,Australia and other sailing hubs. However,the legacy and charm of old time sailing is retained even today.

If Neil,our caving guide,had not drawn our attention to the little depression in the thickly forested hillock we might have missed it altogether. We looked at the little cavern,a menacing looking black hole that punctured the rugged landscape,with misgiving . May be we should have settled for something safer and opted to visit the touristy stalactite and stalagmite caves of Mawnmai in Meghalaya in the North Eastern reaches of India. But no, in a moment of bravado,we declared that we wanted to go caving!

Are we going to crawl into that hole?’,we asked Neil who had already started to pull equipment out of hip backpack:bright orange Jumpsuits,helmets,head lamps…’Yes!’ He had apparently missed the concern in our voice. With business-like professionalism he handed us our caving kits. We realised that the time for fretting and worrying had lapsed and we steeled ourselves for the adventure ahead. Once we were all fitted out-we felt a little silly standing in the silent forest dressed up like coal miners-Neil gave us pre-caving instructions.

First he informed us that our gear,stupid as we might feel in it , was essential once we entered the bowels of the earth. He then reassured us that we would have no problem breathing as limestone rock is porous and the caves are well-ventilated. He warned us about wandering off and advised us to stay together at all times. “There will be a little wall climbing,a bit of slithering around and make sure you test each step before transfering your entire weight onto it,”hea said. With that he switched on the miners’ lights attached to our helmets and invited us to follow him.

From the dark:
We dropped down on all fours and crawled into the narrow little cavern,the spot light on our helmets lighting the path in front of us. We ducked under a row of jagged rocks that clawed at us; thankfully our helmets blunted the bite of the few that did manage to strike. Soon we arrived at what looked like a dead end but Neil pointed to a narrow cavity above our heads.We eased ourselves into the opening and literally slithered through it; our bodies forming S-curves as we pulled and pushed up with our hands,nee and feet.

Our efforts were rewarded when we emerged into a passage where we were able to stand upright. Our reliet,however,was short-lived when we realised that we would have to scale up the face of a small cliff(in the glow of our headlamps it looked menacing and about twice its actual size) to reach the next level of the cave. After a very surreal subterranean rock climbing adventure,gripping the rugged surface of the cave with the tips of our fingers and hoisting ourselves up till our feet found a toehold, we found ourselves crawling on all fours once again.

Garhwal,in Uttaranchal,is known for its religious places and pilgrim trails and is rightly called “the abode of the gods”. Kedarnath,Badrinath,Gangotri and Yamunotri-are integral parts of our spiritual lives. Garhwal has many destinations, which attract the common tourist,as well as innumerable treks catering to today’s young breed of nature lovers. These youngsters,to add spice to their holidays,do not visit the usual hill stations,but pack thier rucksacks and head for the Himalayas.

Uttarakashi,at the height of 1160m,is an ideal base for many beautiful treks. One of them is Khush kalyan. Leaving Delhi by a night bus for Rishikesh,one can take an early morning bus to Uttarkashi. One can also camp for the day, to take a break from the long and tiring bus journey. It is better to drive 20km to Lata and hit the trai. Lata,at 1520m is an ideal place to start the trek. Ration,mules,guides and porters must be arranged at Lata itself. Some even trek from Maneri,14km from Uttarkashi. It is famous for the dam on River Bhagirathi.

The Khush Kalyan route follows the ancient pilgrim trail of Buddha Kedar till Belak Khal(pass).

Crossing a suspension bridge over Bhagirathi,we trekked up to  Dogatta(4km),till the wooden bridge over Belak Nallah. The 13km trek up to Chunn was through beutiful terrace fields,a dence forest adorned with blooming rhododendrons,various wild flowers and a small village with simple folk. Occasionally,en route, we came across pilgrims and sadhus.

After crossing the wooden bridge,we took the trail going to the left as the one on the right came from Maneri. We entered a dense forest,home to many leopards. Following the Belak Nallah trail upstream,we gradually gained height. At 1463km at Chunn,we pitched our tent in a little clearing in the deep woods,near an abandoned check post of the forest department. This is where we rested our tired limbs and opened our packed lunch. With the rustling of leaves and the gurgle of the nearby stream for company,we rested for a while. Soon it grew dark. After a dinner of noodles around a campfire,complemented by fun and laughter,we retired for the night.

The chirping of the birds woke us up,but it was only the call for tea which forced us to get up and come out of our tent. The morning was crisp and cool. Now we had to cover only seven km, till our next camp at Belak Khal. There was no hurry;we wanted to enjoy every moment of our trek. We were quite accustomed to the climate and the high altitude by now. My friend and companion Col.Nandu Manjeshwar,who had done this trek earlier,was a great help.One does not have to be an athlete to trek in the Himalayas; all one needs is a love for nature and adventure and a little perseverance. After clearing the campsite,we moved on at a leisurely pace. It is advisable to be in a group here, as there are many leopard around.The path is well-defined all along and is often used by villagers and pilgrims.

As we gradually gained height,fresh and bright red rhodohendrons greeted us. We were mesmerised by the beauty of  nature and lost all sense of time.As we trekked along, the scenery kept changing.Then suddenly,the height of trees started decreasing and we found ourselves close to the pass. On our right was a small,elevated temple and to our left was a gujjar tribal hut. We had reached our campside for the day. At 3000m approximately,this was Belak Khal.

A little away from the temple,near a small mountain stream in an open bugyal(meadow),we pitched our tent. The day was still young,we had enough time to prepare tea,cook our dinner and explore the pass. Unfortunately,the snow-clad peaks of Bander Punch were covered in a veil of clouds.