A few years back, as a relationship was changing course, on being asked my plans, I said, “I want to raft the top ten rivers of the world”. And then the journey started. I had rafted quite a bit from 2001 to 2005 and then switched off. Whether it was a distraction from my relationship or otherwise, suddenly, I felt that all my decisions were being made keeping my vision in mind. This is what I wanted to do. Be on rivers. Be the river rat.
While I was sitting at the banks of the Tons river in 2003, while working with a bunch of kids, I was looking at the eddy line and suddenly it dawned on me that the human mind can be compared to the hydrology of the river. The way the Rapids are formed, the boils, whirlpools; the human mind has it all. This little piece of wisdom has fascinated me time and time again.
Then I saw the Nyami Nyami locket around a friends neck. I love collecting these little lockets etc. So I asked him how I can own one. I was told that the only way a person deserves to wear the Nyami Nyami locket is to earn it. My next question was obviously asking what I had to do to earn the locket. “Raft the Zambezi”, is what I was told. “Done” is what I said. I had never seen a single video of the Zambezi at that time. I didn’t know about the crocs, the hippos, the crazy rapids…nothing. It was a larger than me commitment.
And once I saw what the mighty Zambezi was all about, my knees weakened. You couldn’t raft the Zambezi as a novice. You needed to know and you needed not to know. You had to have a few rivers under your belt before you decided to hop on to a raft and sing your way down the rapids.
So thats what I have been doing. Rafting on various rivers in India and Nepal. Its not enough but after I survived being sucked in a rapid on the Trisuli river in Nepal, and after I questioned my PLAN, and requestioned it, I felt I was ready to go earn my Nyami Nyami.
The Zambezi will be the precursor to the mighty Siang/ Brahmaputra (India) and Colorado (USA) and Futa (Chile) and Zanskar (Ladakh) and many more.
A lesson I learned which was a life saver, “Irrespective of whether people accompany you or not, you must go ahead and do your thing”. A lot of us are looking for company, sometimes to fill the void within ourselves. I realised that void will only get filled when you keep walking. I did the Sun kosi alone, Trisuli and Marsyandgi alone. The pleasure of meeting wonderful people on the river from various cultures is immense and a learning. No one shows their degrees, their certificates, their achievements. Its about adrenaline and responsibility. Its about safety and the rush that engulfs your body. Its about humility and strength.
But this time, two friends have decided to join me in this crazy adventure to earn the Nyami Nyami. With a couple of days at the National Parks to 3 days on the river, it will be a trip to remember…..
Thank you to all those who inspired me to do this…. for myself. My endeavour is to put to use the Hero’s Journey- a monomyth written by Joseph Campbell in the 30’s. He spoke of a 12 step transformational process which bridges the gap between the ordinary and the special world. I adopted the monomyth for one of my river programs called Current. Now to undertake my own Hero’s Journey…yet again.
One of the lessons that I have learned while persevering towards this dream is NEVER STOP DREAMING. The day we stop to dream and stop visioning our life the way WE want it to be, we would rather be dead.
