Rescue Raft S-26/7

I am writing it at a very short notice. Perhaps this reason is the reason itself which is making me to pen it down in such a short time. I don’t want the proudness of some kind hinder with the facts and all the more with the truth about this incident. Also I have been writing my blog since almost 8 years now, and for the first and probably the only time I would be making and exception about the one and only rule of my blogs i.e.”No Names”.

And I feel this write-up is apt to take into the account this exception. And also for the first time entire event and names mentioned in this are 100% true.

A planned trip to kolad a small town just 150 km from navi-mumbai is were  white water rafting is allowed in a 12 km section of Kundalika river.

Our small group consisted of Tushar Ghag, Manish Pawar, Harish Barode, Mita Akali, Srishti Bhatt, Anandita Aggrawal, Suyog kadam and myself (Ignatius Lewis) all working in the same company and that was the only thing similar amongst us until this date (26-07-15).

Honestly there was very little that I knew about adventure sports specially River Rafting. Amongst all of us Anandita was the only person not doing it for the first time. Once going through a crash course in River rafting our trainer Pradeep quickly took our raft into the river. The seating arrangement in the raft requires the two strongest persons sitting on the either side of the Rafts front section. Myself and Suyog took the front section, followed by Mita and Sristhi, Anandita and Tushar and at the end Manish and Harish.

The one basic rule of river rafting requires that if the entire team did the paddling in sync it would require the least individual energy. So to get our paddling in synch we all agreed to paddle on the call of ‘check’. Hence whenever the trainer should forward one of two front guys would shout ‘check’…. ‘check’…. ‘check’… until the all were in synch. And by the time we crossed the first rapid we were already being applauded by other rafts trainer regarding our paddling.

This was the team work and trust that helped us in the toughest rapids kundalika had to offer. ‘Johnny Walker’ is said to be the toughest Rapids in Kundalika river. Highly unpredictable and certainly unforgiving if mistakes are committed will going through it. By the time we reached ‘Johnny Walker’ we had already overtaken at least 5 other rafts ahead of us. we managed to easily get through with this Rapid with our paddling and balance.

But not all rafts and rafters were as lucky as us. As we stood on the slower side of the rapid and accident happened with one of the rafts that we had overtaken. Due to high current in river and some misbalance 3 rafters of the same raft were thrown out into the high speed and very dangerous rapid. Of which one managed to cling on to the same boats safety rope. The other too somehow luckily manage to get out of the rapid unhurt. But the third victim was not that lucky. She feel and got stuck in the rapid.

Our raft along with two other waited on the side so that we could see how it looks from the other side. And there this incident happened right in front of our eyes.

“oh shit she fell” Mita shouted.

“who pathar pe phasi hui hai” Sristhi added.

 “uske aage whirlpool hai she will not manage to get out” Anandita shouted as she had previously did rafting in kundalika.

And after that all I could hear was a large shout by Pradeep saying “forward fast”….. “forward fast” and that was the last sound that I remember hearing. I started to paddle and the raft started to move faster and faster, that to against the stream. I could only see one thing in my eyes. It was the girls stuck there. I briefly looked to my left side while paddling furiously only to see Suyog paddling equivalently and that too in synch even in such a panicking situation. Even more surprising was when I turned back for a sec everyone was paddling in same flow. And I realized we are the best chance for the girl to stay alive. Within few seconds we were easily 4-5 meters ahead from other rafts approaching her location. Paddling in the stream is anyways tough but paddling against the stream is much tougher. But together we all did it and that too at the right moment.

Before we could reach her location the girl again slipped and was swept away into the rapid. We were still not within the arm’s length. I don’t know about the others but I certainly realized that the flow of water is stronger than our paddling speed and we would surely missed her.

I just somehow knew if I bend halfway out in front of the raft and extend my paddle we could still manage to get her safely and with suyog alongside me even if I slipped he would manage to hold on to me. Without a second thought I leaned halfway out of the raft extending my paddle through my left hand keeping my right hand as a back-up in case she misses or slips out again.

 During the entire thing I totally forgot that while rescuing that girl from the rapid our raft had landed right in the middle of it. but somehow it was stable and suyog and me were able to focus on the girl. We didn’t even realize the rest of the guys were paddling their guts out not only to take the raft upstream but was also struggling to keeps us out of that deadly rapid trap.

Somehow the survival instinct clicked with the girl and with a shivering and nervous hand she manage to held on the paddle. As soon as she had a decent grip on the paddle I started to pull her close to the raft. Suyog by now too had his paddle extended out in case she slips again. By the time she was within the arms reach we were in the middle of ‘Johnny Walker’ again.

I also knew that until and unless we manage held on to some part of her body we cannot be sure of her safety. Because her grip might slip since she is in a fearful and panicked state but our wont.

the rescue crew tushar, suyog, harish, anandita, srishti, mita, manish and myself in the back

I again leaned out a little with my right hand extending out. And although she did extended her palms I still went ahead to hold her from wrist. Once held securely the flow pushed her towards the raft and within no time suyog grabbed her life-jacket from the shoulder and pulled her right out of the water. 

Even though the girl was now back on board, instead of 1 now 9 lives were in danger. We were to still get out of that Rapid. And now with trainer in front rather than back it was getting tougher.

She was terrified to even stand on her own feet’s and sit in the middle of the rafter. Her being in the front section now not only jeopardised her life but ours as well. I again grabbed her from under her arms and pulled a shivering Palak into the second section of the raft in middle of Srishti and Mita.

By this time suyog took his position back in the front section as we still needed to get out.

once on board we tried to calm her down
to make her feel a bit lighter we even tried flirting with her.I
 asked her "what is your name"
she stammeringly replied "palak" suyog replied "ansu toh nai gira lekin?"

on which mita replied "ro ro k nadi banadi hai puri"

even after hearing this she was still a bit nervous . so i leaned in front of her and said
 "ghabra maat, agar tu dobara pani me giri, toh mai dobara tujhe bachane k liye pani me kuduga."
on which everyone laughed and the nervousness vanished.
 

As soon as she was on board Pardeep our trainer jumped from the back of the raft to the front and screamed 
“REVERSE Double” …. “REVERSE Double”. We could hear the sound of cheers and claps I the background and yet everyone paddled furiously to get the boat some speed so that it goes through 

‘Jonny Walker’ all over again without tilting.

Mita and Sristi consoled the girl. While guys kept paddling furiously until we were out of ‘Johnny Walker’. 
 while anaddita kept paddling whilst shouting asking the guys to lift palak upside down to make her vomit out excess water that she might have taken in.
Another rapid quickly followed ‘Johnny walker’ and only after crossing it we took a sigh of ease. Everyone did not only our team but also the other rafts that watched us rescuing Palak.
what was more surprising that her original Raft didn't even wait for her. we could only catch up with them at least 2 km downstream. 

We never realized what we did until we were back to our normal selves. If you ask me, at that moment when we say the girl slipped from the second rock and into the rapid we even if the trainer would have said no we still would have went ahead. We knew our team had very good co-ordination many time better than the other rafts in her vicinity. And none of even felt the “What if??” fear of being pulled inside rapid. From that point onwards every raft that went past us applauded our efforts. They started to called us “The Rescue Raft”

I don’t know whether what we did was bravery or not, but whatever we did we did it together. A little quick thinking, a little co-ordination, a little self and group responsibility, a little selflessness, a little confidence and loads of team work and pure hard-core brute strength. But more than that sometimes the right amount of leadership, motivation and humanity is all it takes to feel brave. I am very sure that if anyone of us didn’t assume responsibilities both as an individual as well as towards the assigned task, the story either could have had a bad ending or even tragic.

With our combined efforts, team work and mutually assumed responsibility we managed to save Palak.  Neither we had her second name nor do we have visible proof of this incident because while other groups were busy getting selfies we were trying to save a life.

Why am I writing it is the last obvious question?

So that I could remember that there is good inside me, that there is a leader, a team player, a human, selflessness and responsibility in me. Perhaps a feeling which in itself is a life long motivation for me. And I am sure I speak for everyone included in this write-up. We could have done nothing without each other.

Hero’s are not born, they are made. And you guys are my hero.  
Excellent job everyone. I am proud to have known you.