On the way to Badrinath . Review on Haridwar

I twisted key in Ignition of my SUV's in the morning 5 AM May 21, 2012 for my long tour of Kedarnath & Badrinath to feel a driving experience of Uttaranchal hills. Though it could be presumed as a pilgrimage tour but first I was a traveller on vacation & fulfilling my wish to drive to north border of India. My FIRST aim was to take halt at Haridwar , there are several routes from here to go there like via Bagpat –Shamli- Mujjafernagar or via Panipat- Shamli, I took Panipat route, up to Panipat it is 6 lane highway, from Panipat to Shamli road was ok , broken only at 2 or 3 places. Then again Shamli to Mujjafernagar broken at few places, I presumed during Mayawati rule all of budget is diverted to make Parks & idols of Elephants so roads got insufficient portion of budget. From Mujjafernagar to Haridwar road was good but busy, Har ki Podi, Haridwar welcomed us around 9 am. Water was iced cold as always, Hindus consider dip here washes their sins , though I don’t have any religious compulsion for dip , but it always fascinate me & give me lot of enjoyment.

First we allowed parents to dip, as usual mother got over- conscious & feared but with little encouragement she did it , father & father in law enjoyed dip Then I shivered by dip & did swimming also. Many people of north come here every month specially during Purnima ( full moon) & on Amavasya. May be, for south Indians & people from far, it is dream to come here once in lifetime. After dip we satisfied our stomachs by deep fried poori chole & kachoris at outside shop. Around 12.30 we headed toward Rishikesh & at 1 pm we parked our car at Ram jhula Rishikesh , our parents & kids toured by own but me & Reena planned for adventure sport river rafting.

Just 100 meter before the Ram Jhula , on a Ghat, Rafting people were busy in catching customers . According to distance & wildness of rapids , rafting is classified , shivpuri (18 KM) , marine drive ( 25 KM) , Kaudiyala ( 35 KM) .The Ganga has a mixed river section of Grade I - IV Rapids, easygoing waters to wild waters followed by relaxing stretches where one can even body surf with the gentle waves. The stretch of Ganga from Kaudiyala has 12 major rapids over 36 Kms. The first 20 Kms of this stretch has famous rapids like three blind mice, wall, black money, Daniel’s dip, etc. But the real excitement begins at Shivpuri(18Kms) which is the most courageous and exciting stretch with most of the rapids like roller coaster, golf course, double trouble etc. The final point to join in the fun is Brahmpuri (9 Kms), along with some rapids here Activities like body surfing, cliff jumping etc could be enjoyed only in this stretch.

At 1.30 pm only Shivpuri section was available for us, a four wheeler took us. they tied boat on roof of Bolero to Shivpuri , usual charge for this is just 300 rupees but if you booked by any agent cost may bloat up to 500/-.

Me & Reena wore safety jacket & helmet & lifted the boat to river along with people of group of 8. Guide taught us how to sail boat & how could we enjoy rapids & keep safe ourselves, after chanting “Ganga Maiya ki Jai” we started our journey for rafting, a welcome rapid came just at start. 2nd one was famous roller costar; it was moderately wild & adventurous. We had rafted once before in Pahalgam Kashmir. In Pahalgam’s boats float faster but in Rishikesh rapids stretches for longer length.

2nd & 3rd Rapid were very interesting & after 4th rapid, water was quiet for long stretch & we are allowed to jump in water with holding rope of Boat. So I jumped in ice cool water to satisfy by adventure hunger. Boats halt at Brampuri to eat something, here if anyone wants can do cliff jumping it is jump in water from a boulder person go around 8 to 10 feet in water & then float. After a while we again sailed to Ramjhula & at 4.30 PM we were able to drive for our next halt. From Rishikesh first we crossed Devprayag then Srinagar & broke our journey just 7 km before Srinagar It was already 7.30 pm , we slept in nice hotel named River view, we took 2 AC rooms here for 3900 with one extra bed. Food was good. Road from Rishikesh to Srinagar stretched curvy of 100KM.