From Baba ji ki booti to Rishikesh Camping

So it all started from a friend’s birthday party. We were eating, dancing, drinking and yes we were high. All my hulk friends were literally hogging down everything edible, because of course it makes you freaking hungry. The stuff was doing its magic as the time passed by. So then we sat down together, my best friend and birthday girl Shruti, a maniac, just like me, yelled out words ,”let’s go camping” that she could never take back. Now designated as a best friend I had to say yes.

So here it goes, “YES, my love”.

We woke up next morning all confused looking at each other wondering whether the plan was on or not. Minutes later shruti comes running into the room screaming, “Hell yeah, it is.” She of course understood the look on our faces.

Now the real work starts when you have got to plan the trip. And we all know the secret when one of our friends acts like an emperor or may be stud and goes like, “I have a friend who can hook up with the agency and get us discounts on our camping package”. And sometimes no matter how much hatred we have for them but apparently that one person is our favourite person on this planet.

So we hire a traveler cum mini bus containing 12 seats which could easily fit 11 people of our gang.

The ride is on, the music is loud, and the moves are lazy because the bus doesn’t provide us enough space to dance . May be we will only have to survive with head bangs :D.

It was second Friday of this month. Bags packed, shower taken, clothes on and we left our homes. The trip was supposed to start from Hanuman mandir, Connaught Place.

 SOMETHING WEIRD YET SPECIAL

Do u want to know a magical thing about this trip? It was another friend’s birthday on Saturday and we celebrated her birthday in the traveller. Done with the cake cutting,  we left for our journey to Rishikesh. My travel outfit was pair of white jeans from Ginger and a CODE top. I know your guys must be thinking white bottoms while travelling, isn't that risky? Yes, it is but travelling in a mini bus I was pretty sure my bottoms would be safe.

It was a one night and two days trip. The name of our camp was ‘Aura Camp’. After sliding from almost 20 feet and taking our breath away with a mini heart attack the camp was situated right between the mountains and to a riverside.

We reached the camp around nine in the morning. Breakfast was expected at twelve until then we tried to freshen up and guess what we did. As people tried to scare me that the restrooms of camps usually sucked. They are filthy, they stink and if you go Joey on using those toilets, you will probably catch an infection. But I know I am lucky, the toilets of my camp was super fresh. But yeah we don’t endure super powers so they need to add hooks in the showers. What are we supposed to say “Wingardium Leviosa”?

  IT’S TIME FOR RAFTING BABYYY!

For rafting I chose shorts that my sister got from New York and a simple plain tee-shirt from Singapore. I always prefer shorts for rafting because when I wear full bottoms when they get wet with water I feel heavy and I like to feel super light when i am near water bodies, it keeps me more energetic and carefree.

Nothing in this world is for free and things as good as rafting, OH NO NO NO NO! So it takes between 300-700 bucks as per the kilometers you chose. More the distance more the “I will kill you today rapids”. So the camping guy called another guy who hook us up with some other guy who told us that he can’t get his vehicle to the camp. These rafting organizers pick you up from a point and take you to the starting point of the rafting. But maybe I am not that lucky.

We reached to the starting point in our own traveler bus. The number of people that could fit in the not so gigantic boat is eight. Since we were eleven we F.R.I.E.N.D.S had to split up.

Then came the various rapids. Baby rapids and papa rapids. Who cares of the size they all scared us. The rafting also includes cliff jumping. They will stop at any one of them. You also get Maggie and tea at these points and I am already starving. The sport involves jumping from a 30-40 feet high cliff. Okay, the height gave me a mini heart attack, so I didn’t go for it but its actually fun because I have seen people jumping straight into the water with big smiling faces. I am sure if makes them feel strong. The whole ride was for almost 2 hours and then we were dropped after a place near Ram Jhula. From here he dropped us to the camp in their Mahindra cars. It was freezing since our clothes were drenched in water.

It is always dark at night in camps because there are hardly 5-6 LED light bulbs. But then you have moonlight, the natural. We were served pakoras and teas in the evening along with some music and a bonfire was supposed to happen. Hours passed by and we realized the camp people were not in a mood to light up a bonfire. I think they didn’t that we paid for it and certainly they didn’t know it was our friend’s birthday.

But guess what we did. Our anger changed into celebration. All eleven of us stood up on chairs and cheered, sang songs and announcing that we would love to enjoy the bonfire tonight and that everybody’s drinks were on us. Filthy rich people we are, right? So finally the camp members got embarrassed and they lit up the bonfire.

You know a celebration for non-vegetarians is never complete without a tangdi. Oh yeah, veges, you heard me right. We need to break some chicken bones. Dinners on, señorita.

CHICKEN ON THE PLATE DRINKS IN OUR HANDS

      SHAKE IT LIKE U HAVE NEVER BEEN ON A NO-MANS LAND

It’s bed time now and we clean up our beds and then I guess it my bad time, as soon as I lie down on the bed there a huge spider trying to get some space in my bed. I suffer from arachnophobia i.e. fear of spiders and this was not supposed to happen with me. I ran out of the tent ASAP. We cleaned the quilt thrice and yet again when I lie down I found it again. Would someone let him know it was my tent? After many attempts it finally got away but you see what this is a big con of camping. You never know what’s crawling on your bed.

The nights gone, party’s over and now it’s time to check out the city Rishikesh. Since we did not have enough time the only things that we could check out was Laxman Jhula, the riverside, the markets and the famous shiv temple ‘Neelkanth’. You have to check out the famous temples of Rishikesh, it calms you and provides you the inner peace which might not be the virtue of a trip but there’s no harm in gaining some peace in mind, body and soul.

You might not find the markets of Rishikesh with things of great quality but you can surely find good quality souvenirs. Since the sun was scorching on us and body was hot as fire we ran to the riverside the moment we saw it.

The new day was shining bright as a sunflower, it made me feel so happy and we all know what does justice to when you are happy on a bright sunny day, floral prints. So I put on this cute floral crop top from Globus and since the base of the top was white, my bottoms had to be super bright. So I paired the top with bright orange high waist pants that I got from a shop in Kamla Nagar Market, New Delhi.

The ocean that flows not only chills you down from the heat

But it also removes the impurities from within

Trips and games are just a method to deploy happiness

The air becomes healthy with friends and family around.

After we enjoyed the chilling water of the ocean it’s time for food. So we went to this famous restraunt ‘Chotiwala’. It is situated in Swargashram when you climb the stairs from Laxman Jhula.

This guy right here is the marketing head of Chotiwala :D. Sitting right at the front door speculating visitors, he will surely make u eat at his place. Friends this place is vegetarian and they have the best food in Rishikesh.

AN END BUT IT’S THE BEGINNING……

It’s time to go. After our lunch some rasgullas, a little faluda, some suttas and a few number of chai, we all knew that we will be coming back to Rishikesh again. A place like heaven should be revisited again and again.  I enjoyed the camping but for me I would prefer camping only for a day or two. And how can I forget my new friend I made at my camp. Have a look!

SO THIS IS IT.BYE BYE RISHIKESH.

Miss. Ravans