Rapid Respite in Goa

chillibreeze writer — Urvashi Rustomfram

Need an editable PowerPoint map of India

“The beaches!” “Water sports!” “Resorts!” “Lazing around!” “Mambo’s!”

Ask people what is the first thing that comes to their mind when they think of Goa, and these are some of the answers that you will get. But not many people know that the Mahdei River in Goa offers some exciting river rafting opportunities during the monsoon.

Six of us friends (two Indians, a Canadian, an Italian, an English and a Belarusian) trooped off to Goa to experience river rafting for the first time last August. We were supposed to meet our guide, John Pollard, on a cloudy day in Mapusa at 9.00 AM, but arrived about half an hour late. John, a ginger-haired, slightly acerbic but genial fellow from Liverpool reprimanded us in his broad accent, not quite so gently!

John had begun his romance with river rafting about 18 years ago in Nepal. His company Southern River Adventures is the “only rafting company in peninsular India [which] has found new stretches of river on a regular basis. The rivers we pioneered and opened first have been Kali in Dandeli, Cauvery in Coorg, Kundalika in Kholad, Barapole in Coorg and Surla/ Mahdei in Goa.”

We soon set off in a minivan and arrived eager and raring to go at our point of departure – the Surla River, which is a tributary of the Mahdei. The Surla/Mahdei stretch has Class 2-4 rapids, which are relatively easier to navigate, but still makes it quite an interesting experience for newbies.

Fitted up with bright yellow and red life jackets and helmets we posed for pictures to mark the beginning of our expedition. Our Canadian friend hefted his oar into the air and started grunting. He was immediately joined by the rest of the men in our group, and they all sounded and looked like Neanderthals setting off to kill some bison!

We took our rafts down to the river, with John acting as the guide for our raft. He gave us a bunch of commands to memorize and stressed on the importance of working as a team. Almost as soon as we had placed the raft on the grayish-blue water, it started drizzling. We pushed off from the shore and once we got to the middle of the river, John gave us instructions on what to do if any one of us got thrown out of the raft. He made us get into the water one by one, and practice staying afloat on our backs and stomachs. Easier said than done for someone like me, who does not know how to swim! I barely managed to stay afloat for a while before being heaved back into the raft. Our fashion conscious Italian friend had worn leather shoes, which, of course got soaked, to his utmost dismay. Everyone ribbed him on his choice of footwear, to which he shrugged and said, “Hey! I’m Italian! We cannot be separated from our Italian shoes!”

Once all of us had our turn being dunked in the water, we paddled off with much concentration and intensity. John shouted out instructions rapidly – “Forward stroke right!” “Back stroke left!” “Forward sweep left!” “Reverse sweep right!” – and we scrambled to obey each command. Every time we managed to successfully navigate over a tricky rapid, we let out a spontaneous cry of victory! When the water was calmer John talked to us about his love for river rafting: “It’s like a religious person visiting his temple, mosque or church… I go to the river instead.”

After about an hour of frantic paddling we took a break for lunch. We ate a simple meal of rice and pickle, standing under a constant drizzle. While eating, John remarked that the river had risen by about 18-20 inches since the start of our expedition. We also noticed that the water was flowing more swiftly.

We set off once more after lunch, but John had other ideas. We were in the middle of the river and he ordered all of us to jump into the water. He counted down and yelled, “Jump!” Everyone in the raft jumped as soon as John yelled the command, while I hesitated and jumped a few seconds later. And those precious few seconds was all it took for me to be swept up by the current, and forcefully pulled down stream. I could barely keep from going under, even though I was wearing a life jacket. But unlike what people usually say about your life flashing before your eyes when you feel you are in mortal danger, the only thought in my head was, “I want to live!”

Thankfully the furious river slowed down and I could hear John yelling, “Urvashi! Swim to the raft!” And I thought, “How?”, because I’m no swimmer and the raft was behind me! But the will to live is strong, and I somehow managed to get close enough to the raft. Like a beacon of hope, there was John, holding out an oar to me, which I grabbed on to and was pulled in to the raft. I landed in a heap on the floor, but never have I been happier to be on almost stable ground! The rest of the rafting experience was not as eventful (and by eventful, I mean no one else nearly died!), but nevertheless, extremely exhilarating!

At the end of the course all of us were still pumped with adrenalin and wanted to keep on paddling, but unfortunately, there were no more rapids to navigate. All my friends wanted to keep the adrenalin rush going and decided to do one of the things that Goa is most known for – partying the night away at Mambo’s! But I took a rain check and decided to crash onto the soft bed waiting for me in my hotel room. But even the soft bed could not prevent my mind from calming down, and I was already making plans of going to Rishikesh for more extreme white water rafting the next year!

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in July, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

Urvashi Rustomfram has done her master's in Clinical Psychology. She has worked as a User Experience Consultant for five years for a leading usability company and now works as a Technical Writer at a top software company. Writing is her passion, and she loves to write about travel experiences and is also interested in creative writing.

Rapid Respite in Goa

chillibreeze writer — Urvashi Rustomfram

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