Ramesh’s blog This is Me!!

On the rafting I did go

With forty others, my sons and wife in tow

In a bus on a ride that lasted seven hours or so

To Rishikesh, I remember one morn we did go

On the rafting I did go… on the rafting I did go

 

In tents for two each and not a body more

Pitched on the banks paved with rounded stones

And the boulders brought by the gushing flow

We stayed … On the rafting I did
go … on the rafting I did go

 

To the river side, the children were forbidden to go

“Look after your little ones” the grownups were told

In front of the camp the river gurgled as it flowed

On the rafting I did go… on the rafting I did go

 

Walking along the banks shaped by the meandering flow

I was in awe of natures powers and the torrential flow

The  landscape transformed by the
floods only days  ago

I noticed… On the rafting I did go… on the rafting I did go

 

The sandy banks of the year before

Lay covered with boulders  and one
wrecked auto

The water was cold and the pace seemed slow

On the rafting I did go… on the rafting I did go

 

The rafting started with six of us in a rubber boat

Each one holding a paddle with a T end to row

The do’s and don’ts in troubled waters we were told

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

In accented English we were instructed paddles to the fore

Across five rafts, the thirty of us who braved the cold

Started with chants of “Ganga
maiya ki jai ho … jai ho”

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

The first rapid was Good
afternoon Rapid we were told

Followed by the Three blind mice
and a few more

The first unexpected splash sent a shock as I felt the cold

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

Gotten past the Tee Off and just
before the Golf Course

To the vantage point as the photographers got off the boat

Remember your life line, the paddle and to row, we were told

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

 

One by one the rafts went and we counted 1..2..3 and 4

Sailed through they did and so will we or so we hoped

The swells consumed as we tossed about uncontrolled

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

What happened next I do not know, I really don’t know

I was in water trapped beneath the blue of the boat

Struggle I did in fear and cold for a few seconds or so

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

Air at last, and I took in a lung full before

The waters pushed me down once more

Like a cork I bobbed and gulped a few gulps more

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

Finally the raft spotted separated by a few feet or so

No sooner than I swam to grab it and get a firm hold

My accented guide wanting to upturn the boat said “Let Go”

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

Having been  pulled into one of
the other boats

I looked around to find my wife and NO!

She was not on any of the other boats

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

 

Five minutes later and she was carried by the river flow

Allaying my fears and convincing it was not yet time  for her to GO

Made me chant a silent Ganga
maiya ki jai ho … jai ho

On the rafting I did go…on the rafting I did go

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