Dandeli.....into the wild

I always admire nature for its marvelous creations. I don’t read books on nature nor do I study the genetic structure of chloroplast. But it is simpler to admire it and pretend to be Bear Grylls. So I joined my office-mates on a trip to Dandeli as we could engage ourselves in white water rafting on river Kali. So we set off from Goa on a warm evening on a 1948 cc , 15 seater desi limo to Dandeli in Karnataka. Since I knew the local language (kannada) spoken there, I was chosen as the Supreme Commander for food and shelter arrangement for my army in Dandeli. I had booked a guest house, Dandeli Nisarga, on the internet. They had offered us breakfast, lunch, dinner, a camp fire, a trek and of course the rooms for around Rs.750 per person! So at many instances on the journey to Dandeli, the only doubt that lingered in my mind was whether the guest house actually existed! But I chose not to reveal this suspicion to anyone. After 4 hours of our journey through towns and villages, we entered a wild forest area. We traveled further for 30 minutes and the roads seemed very similar to the ones we had just left behind. Another doubt crept up in my mind. Were we traveling in circles? “No” I told myself and wished every few signboards that we came across was a Google map. There was no cell phone range and none of the signboards mentioned Dandeli. After a while we entered a town from where we were directed to Dandeli and we found the way to our guest house, Dandeli Nisarga. It was 10pm when we reached and the whole guest house was in darkness. There was no electricity! Aha!! So this is why the offer was made cheap. They did not have electricity. I did not ask about it and they did not tell me! The owner (and manager) assured me (in kannada) that the electricity supply would resume as there was a power cut in the area. He was rubbing his chin. His voice seemed doubtful. His body language indicated he was not sure. I noticed all this and assured the same about the electricity to the others, but confidently. So we all proceeded for dinner as I covertly checked whether the rooms had any switch boards. Yes they did! There were tube lights and fans too! Finally my James Bond mode got switched off , when the tube lights lit up and the owners assurance turned out to be true. After a delicious dinner, we sat by the camp fire and went off to sleep at around 2am.

River Kali in Dandeli, Karnataka.

We chose not to go trekking the next morning and headed straight for the river rafting destination. It was Holi on that day and what we did not expect was a bunch of multicolored kids to block the road with bamboo sticks and throw colored powder. We reacted instantly by closing all the windows as if chemical weapons were being hurled at us. The driver was kind enough to get colored all over his face on behalf of us. After a 30 min drive, we reached the river Kali. I was amazed by the serenity and the calmness of the river. We hired 2 rafts for the 15 of us. We were provided with head gears and life jackets. The rafting experts who accompanied us on the raft instructed us on how to row a raft and how to handle it. He told us to stay calm if at all we fell in the river while rafting. In order to demonstrate this ,after we rowed away from the shore, he commanded instructed us to get into the water as if he were telling this to a bunch of Olympic swimmers. We were silently dumbstruck.Some of us did not want to go into the deep river, but the instructor turned a deaf ear to us.He wanted us to go in there so that we don't panic if we fall in the river while rafting. I wasn’t scared of the water but just very very a bit nervous about the river being deep and dark green. Allow me to present my theory on the color of water.

Blue water = Beach + crabs + weeds which feel like snakes + bunch of naked people +  shells that  you want to take home.

Green water = Large hungry crocodiles

Green water + humans = Excited crocodiles + A happy meal

I had to forget this theory to look macho and I jumped into the water with my life jacket on. I sensed a  feeling of drowning initially. But I let go of all the nervousness and lay back on the water. The climate was cool and the breeze blew over my face. The blue sky spread above me and I could hear the wild birds in the forest surrounding the river. The water flowed around me. It seemed so effortless to stay on water. I also swam a bit and climbed back on the raft. As I was drying myself getting ready for the 9 kms of river rafting that lay ahead, I casually asked the instructor whether there were any crocodiles in the water. And to my disbelief he answered “Yes”!! WOW! That was so honest of him! My theory was thus proved. But the instructor told us that the crocodiles were ‘vegetarian’ and had not harmed any humans in the river till now. And now with the proud feeling of having ‘swam’ in a river infested with crocodiles I rowed along with the others towards the first of the six rapids in the river. Rapids are caused due to obstruction in the downstream flow of the river creating a miniature water fall. The first rapid was enormous. It flung us with the water flow and we were all drenched in seconds.

The first rapid in the river.

The next 6 or so rapids brought the navy seals out of us ! A few on the other boat fell into the water only to return back and row further. It was a memorable 1.5 hour journey through the river. We rowed through narrow tunnels formed by dense bushes that  made an arc like structure over the water. I was in love with nature and being a rafting instructor felt like the best job in the world. Away from the busy streets and the polluted cities right in the heart of the nature, this experience was really breathtaking. We rowed through all the rapids and were asking for more at the end of the activity. But we had to return back to the guest house as we were leaving back to Goa on the same evening. 

The thrills of white water rafting!

Once we reached Dandeli Nisarga we revealed the Holi colors that some of us had smuggled without the others knowledge. We emptied the colors on each other. RGB was everywhere, on shirts and on faces. The threads of colors weaved themselves through the crisp afternoon air. 

After a refreshing bath and a superb lunch, the soothing weather laid everyone off to sleep. As the evening started blending with the late afternoon we packed up for our journey back home. We then left the wilderness behind as our vehicle drove over the muddy roads through the jungle. It took an hour less on the way back to Goa from Dandeli.

Us, at Dandeli

With pleasant memories we woke up the next morning and met each other at work to discuss the amazing trip. Truly, nature has its own creations which man will never be able to create.

There ain't no Captain Planet to save us !!

After someone drank the half-filled glass of water and it got posted on a Wall, the optimist and the pessimist met each other yet another time.

Opti : I know u suck…. but someday u can be like me !

Pessi : Facts will remain facts buddy…..You can just make people look at it in a cool way.

When I am in a parley about the environment, I try to convince the other person that he has the potential to reduce pollution by contributing in the smallest possible way to protect the environment. These words activate a robot in most of them which says “When no one around me cares, why the heck should I ? “.The more I try to reprogram this bot, the more invincible it gets ! By now most of us know that pollution is victimizing the Earth day after day due to increased human activities. We are all becoming so inhumane that some people have decided to remind us that we are humans by wearing “Being human” t-shirts, or that’s what I think !

So what has to be done about it. Go and attend an “Earth Day Party” in a club ? Or wait for the next year to make a resolution ? If we choose the easy way of handing over the blame to the government, then it does not seem to be a solution too. The wheels of government policies don’t turn unless we co-operate. Consider for example the use of plastic bags.I have rarely observed anyone trying to avoid the use of plastic.I don’t understand why some of us are reluctant to carry a bag of our own when we go to buy groceries. Stop insisting on plastic carry bags.Instead of waiting for the government to come up with a complete ban on the usage of plastic bags,lets start the ban ourselves. We can save energy by putting of lights and electrical appliances when not needed.We can keep our surroundings clean by not throwing plastic wrappers out in the open.Carry them with you and dispose of in a dustbin.Try to take part in the “Earth Hour” every year.Its observed on 31st March, wherein people from all around the world switch off all electrical appliances for an hour,and yes they do survive that hour. These are the small contributions that I was talking about.They are possible by each one of us and I myself am practicing this in my daily life.

We cannot ensure that each and every plastic item is recycled or we cannot stop going to the loo to save water!But we can cultivate habits to protect nature.Several species of animals have been wiped off form the face of this planet due to our negligence and wastage of resources.We may not be able to bring them back, but we can surely do our bit to protect the existing ones for our future generations.The Earth has given us a place to live in.Try to save it for others who are yet to live in it.Our pessimistic self may try to persuade us that this wont help if everyone doesn’t do it. Be an Opti. Someone who watches you may learn from you. We need to kick the Pessi out of every person by doing our bit and showing them how it can be done.As very nicely said “The greatest mistake is to do nothing because you can only do a little”.