Rejuvenate in JAYALGARH

Far from the Madding Crowd... when you feel to break all shackles and merge yourself into Mother Nature, come to "Jayalgarh"

"Are you not enthralled with the pics, if YES just wait. These are just on way to Jayalgarh". What's waiting for you is the gushing Alaknanda, innumerable treks, trails and rock formations in the nearby mountains. Jayalgarh is approximately 90 kms from Rishikesh near Devprayag. Pitched up on the bank of the gushing River Alaknanda, this would be a wonderful retreat for the entire family, a group of friends or just for you.

This is a story of 2 friends (Gaurav and Gaurav), their friendship, their adventures. In the summers of 2006, they boarded a late night bus from Delhi to Rishikesh. It took them around 6 hours to Rishikesh. Another 1.5 hrs. from Rishikesh and they were in jayalgarh at early morning 7 AM. They missed out several ATM's in the way in hope of finding the most coveted ATM in Rishikesh, which was non-existing.

Rest of the story from them directly, Day 1:

Mighty Alaknanda and the Himalayan ranges were there to receive us. De-boarding the bus, the first things we noticed were the camps alongside the river. In no time we were there, inquiring about a possible accommodation for both of us. What we get to know was "The camps have been booked by a company ALSTOM, our last company and they were to arrive any moment". Next momemt we were running out of the camps "Paaji sir pe pair rakh ke bhaag lo". At the same time both of the minds were busy in devising ways to surprise encounters with Alstom.

We got a resort just above those camps. After our breakfast, with our binoculars, cameras and preparation we were ready for trekking on naked mountains and testing the strong currents of Alaknanda. Next 2-3 hours were the time of our lives, as we totally drenched ourselves to the rigors of trekking with bare hands and no equipment at all. What a time it was?  With our souls we finally conquered the mountain and halted only after reaching the top of the cliff. 

After this adventure, we thanked to GOD in a temple on the clif. Also chatted with local children, the joy we missed staying in cities. Now we felt to replenish our energies. After the lunch in our resort, the moment we sat down to rest, we fall unconscious for next 3-4 hours.

On getting up in evening, filled with adrenaline we started to explore further and left for SRINAGAR (this one not the one in J&K) for another temple visit. In the way we made sure to arrange spirits to keep us in good spirits. While coming back, we managed to give Alstom a sight of things to come (You know Gaurav, what I mean).

"Travellers never think themselves of being foreigners" was our mantra.

The road we chose to wait for a bus to take us back to jayalgarh was worth every minute even it had started to dawn and finally one localite offered us the lift to our resort. After the dinner, we again set out for night walk on totally dark roads, only light was from our mobiles.

DAY 2:

It was morning again in no time. A person from resort came to woke us up saying, a nearby river rafting camp wants to meet us, if we are interested for rafting. I couldn't believe my ears when he told we have few seats vaccant in our boats.....rest others were filled by ALSTOM, ha ha ha we sensed blood and it was the time to go for a kill. What a news it was and we both started waiting for the moment...

Our previous bosses, the reaction seems they wanted our blood. But we were the merrier ones interacting with our old friends. We shared the same bus and again came to Srinagar to start our rafting. We saw lion hearts crying like babies a midst of river. Even some were so horrified they needed water to regain the senses, when there was water everywhere. Water going down in a gush, raft overturning, screams we witnessed/ enjoyed all. But the most we had a duel with the river Alaknanda, check out the brave soldier in me.

All good things have to end, so was with our exploits on reaching Jayalgarh. But we still looking around to have some more moments, we picked up a Kayak to try our hand at that also. We also tried our hand at Volleyball and when everything else got over, we decided to call it a day.

We started in evening, enjoying the TEA and snacks at roadside dhabas. Adventure was still very much with us in our spirits. We had dinner in Rishikesh and by Sunday morning we were back in Delhi. This has been our close to heart memories, we will talk of it rest through out our lives.

We will keep coming to Rishikesh...At this time we have come much ahead in our personal and professional lives. 



As said by Al Pacino in movie Scent of Woman: "Some people live a lifetime in a minute" We lived a lot more than in those 2 days...But we both realize that a trip again to this place is due, lets hope when it materializes...