Extreme Sports - Experiences to remember

I'm an extreme sport freak and the very thought of such outdoor activities gives me adrenalin rush. I'm attempting to narrate few extreme sport experiences I had. Incidentally all my attempts in such outdoor activities started after I got married and my wife accompanied me in almost every sport :)

BTW, the below mentioned outdoor activities generically fall under extreme sports category in contrast with other sports, but none of these are as extreme as the name suggests :D

Rock Climbing:

My tryst with some kind of extreme sports was rock climbing (though not exactly as extreme). It was at Runway 9 where I shed my inhibitions to try this. It was a very exciting experience thanks to my confidence in the guy who wrapped all ropes and buckles around me. This was the only sport available near Hyderabad then apart from Go Karting (also at Runway 9).

River Crossing:

A real extreme sport. After wedding, we went to Manali (yes, as a part of honeymoon). Beas river originates near Manali and is one of the roughest rivers in India. The rocky terrain, huge rapids, deafening sound intimidates anybody. For a non-swimmer like me, crossing that river holding a rope was definitely an adventure. When I crossed half the river, the trainer guy lowered the rope and my feet touched the flowing river water which was dangerously cold (quite understandably - the temperature was -3 celsius and the water came from Himalayas). This was my first adventure sport in true terms.

Skiing:

Rohtang Pass is a mountain pass near Manali famous for blizzards and avalanches. We went there to enjoy the scenic beauty but couldn't resist wearing the ski gear and blades. That's incidentally the first time, I saw and touched snow. Skiing looks so easy in movies, but the technique to apply brakes to those thin, long blades on slippery snow was definitely not a child play. We tried for 2 hours before we could ski for 200 ms.

Second attempt of skiing was during last winter when our cousin traveled from NYC. That's at Blue Mountains, 2 hours from Toronto . We chose the beginners area to ski. The shoes given to us were heavier than us and walking with those on made us feel like astronauts :)

Once we were ready with skiing blades, we were taken uphill by the movator and we were supposed to ski downwards. All three of us (Hema, Karthik and myself) were ready to ski and I just thought to have a small drill before going for a long ski and hence started skiing and to my utter surprise and shock, the steep mountain took my downwards with unbelievable speed. I skied faster than a vehicle and when i tried to apply the brake by moving my ski blades in an angle, that didn't seem to work; my speed accelerated and I was sure an accident was in store. If I continued further, I would've definitely run into other people (including children) and injure them as well. So I prepared myself for the worst and jumped off the blades to start rolling on the steep mountain of snow.

I had my blades fixed to my feet, but I stumbled and rolled over the snow for almost 300 ms. Luckily nobody came in my way and I didn't hurt myself too. After I stood on my feet, the best scene to see my wife and cousin too struggling very hard to control their blades, hahahaha. Later I learnt the trick and then helped the other two as well. An hour of skiing later on the ground level was fun though. That was an excellent memory :)

Paragliding:

At Solang Valley near foothills of Himalayas, near Manali. First of a kind experience flying in open air with a parachute was breathtaking. The launch was all comfortable, but tension started only when I was about to land because I didn't know whether to run as soon as I land (just like getting down from a running bus) or stand still. I landed under that confusion and suffered a minute bruise. That was a memory to reckon with :)

Motorboating:

Not an extreme sport, per se. My sister and brother-in-law arrived from US for the first time after marriage and we decided to go for a one day picnic. All of us were saturated with Niagara and hence planned to go to Thousand Islands, a water sport area 3 hours away from Toronto.

We wanted to have some adventure and so rented a motor boat to drive on St.Lawrence river. The river is one of the longest, widest and fast flowing rivers which we didn't know earlier. The boat owner gave us a 5 min orientation explaining all controls and gave us the key. Only after we started did we realize that the river is too big and wide (double the width of Godavari at Bhadrchalam - Papikondalu area).

All four of us took turns to steer the driving wheel and all was well until jetskis around drove fast enough to create turbulence in the waters. Remember, my sister and I can't swim and incidentally my wife raised the gas, turned the steering frantically and that\s when I prepared myself for the worst to happen. Later we parked the boat at one of the islands (among 1000 islands), spent some time on the island, and drove back to destination unharmed. 4 hour motor-boating on the river was very exciting, scary and memorable.

Canoeing:

Canoeing is something which looks pretty normal, but the first experience was tiring and confusing. My friend and I started rowing from opposite ends of the canoe and we took a cool 30 mins to crack the technique before we set off the odyssey on french river, Ontario. Trouble began when somebody told us that there was a waterfall nearby which could be our final destination if we didn't row it to the shore properly. One hour of canoeing then was more than watching 10 horror and gory movies.

But later when we tried it at Southampton beach, that was pretty cool. I became a pro by then :)

Kayaking:

Fairly simple, but equally dangerous because one of our friends who came with us for camping capsized the kayak, abandoned it and swam safely to the shore. But what should I do (I can't swim) was the question I had on my mind for that 30 mins when I kayaked alone on Lake Huron.

Rafting:

Rafting on grand river with cousins Preetham and Saroja was rather cool, secure and enjoyable experience. We never came across any kind of dangerous or adventurous situation except that it was physically exhausting.

Gliding:

Again with Preetham and Saroja near African Safari, Hamilton, Canada. We were made to sit along with a pilot in a gliding plane which was towed by another plane with a rope. Once we were in the sky, the towing plane withdrew the rope leaving the glider plane to fly for some time before landing safely. It was not a very adventurous trip, but sitting on a front seat and flying in a glider plane was a good experience.

Tubing:

One of the most dangerous and on the edge experience I ever had. We went to Elora gorge where grand river flows. Tubing was a very enjoyable sport as recommended by many. Its all about floating on a tube (something like a tube in truck tyre). We were given life jackets and tubes and were directed to reach the river. To my surprise there was nobody at the river to push, help, guide, instruct, protect or teach. We were left to our destiny. When we reached the river, there were some 15 people, waiting to see if anybody tubes but nobody even remotely attempting to do it themselves.

My wife and I took the tubes to shores, sat in the tubes but didn't know how to kick-off. Before I could realize what was happening, my wife pushed my tube into the flowing waters. Taken aback I started flowing along the river and in some distance saw rapids and a slope. I held my breath, left my life to the mercy of life jacket and was prepared to fell off the tube for sure. But I saved myself by holding the tube tightly. There were 3 such rapids which I survived before getting down in shallow waters very far away.

That was enough for me and hence started walking back along the shore with the tube in my hand when suddenly a small girl was screaming for help. She fell off her tube and was flowing along with rough waters. I raised the hero in me and gave her a helping hand and was about to pull her. But destiny planned something else for me :)

The rough water pulled me and we both started flowing in the river. I had a life jacket and hence was floating but the river was fast enough to push me even before I could control or hold something. After this drama of rolling and flowing in the river, some good samaritan saved me and that gal :D.

I saw my wife tubing slowly after somebody else pushed her to give her the necessary kick-off. I don't think I will tube again :D

Canopy Walk:

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary at a forest resort called Haliburton Wildlife Reserve, a dense forest and an abode for wolves and bears. The adventure was to walk on a canopy, a narrow (1 foot) hanging bridge built between tree-tops in the dense forest amidst flowing river. We were given a lot of gear to put around our waist and were made to walk on that canopy for half a kilometer. Breathtaking visuals, adrenalin rush made the experience worth our time.

Jetskiing:

This is one sport which took my breath away, which made me skip heartbeats. Jetski, a waterbike is easy to operate but the first and only time I did that was in pacific ocean where waves almost submerged me. Jetski works well only when we raise the speed to max levels. If we jetski in lower speeds, waves of water will oscillate the jetski and there is a danger of capsizing.

Being a non-swimmer I could not dare to accelerate the bike and hence pacific waves troubled me a lot (and I had my wife sitting behind me). At one point, I stopped the jetski in mid waters and the situation became even more dangerous. But if I raised speeds, I was sure I will fall down into the ocean. Under this predicament, I raised the gas and made sure the jetski didn't capsize or submerge.

Now I want to do this in some lake or river where waves are not so intimidating.

Parasailing:

Not different from paragliding, except it being on the ocean. Once we were released into the sky, the view of Hawaii was awesome. Cool and enjoyable time spent on parasailing, but nothing adventurous or extreme about this.

Snorkeling:

If I have to choose an activity which I enjoyed the most, its snorkeling. We have done this at the best place in the planet, Hanauma Bay, Hawaii. Turquoise clear waters, abundant fish and corals, scenic beauty, its paradise in short. I enjoyed it more because this was the first place where I got an experience of swimming.

We were given snorkel gear (fins, eye gear, snorkels) and were asked to get into the ocean. Initially I was apprehensive and hence took my wife's support but once I caught the rhythm, there was no stopping. I swam across into deep waters too to see beautiful colorful fish. That was a lifetime experience for me.

Future Checklist:

Bungee Jumping: My longtime aim has been Bungee Jumping. I recently found a place called Great Canadian Bungee, 4 hours away from Toronto. Now there is no way I can stop myself from doing this. This summer, am bungee-ing :)

Sky Diving: Another extreme sport which can be done near Toronto. This summer..mostly yes !

Scuba Diving: Scuba or deep sea diving is very similar to snorkeling but at deeper seas with additional gear to breathe. This summer or next summer depending upon the places we visit.

Hang Gliding: Similar to paragliding. Will plan for it soon.

Snowmobiling: Coming winter, snowmobiling will be waiting for me. Pakka !

Will post another article, once am done with these sports :))

My Misadventures Part - 2,3: Homeless @ Anantapur; Kitchener

Preface: This is the second part of my misadventure saga which I started in My Misadventures Part - 1: Mumbai Masala

Misadventure 2: Anantapur, AP, India

It was 2001, the year I completed my bachelors from GPREC, Kurnool which is affiliated to SK University, Anantapur. Everybody was planning to go to Anantapur to obtain B.Tech certificate in May, 2001 but I couldn't join my friends due to prior commitments and hence planned to go in June. Since the planned day to go there was saturday, I forced my friend, a Kurnool localite to accompany me with a promise that we would return by saturday night.

All went well as planned. We reached the university (outskirts of Anantapur) at 9 am on saturday and started certification formalities which went on till 2 pm. We were asked by the staff to wait for some time till the controller of exams signs my certificate. We went to university cafetaria, had lunch and returned in 40 mins and started waiting for a call. 3:30 pm, 4: pm, 4:30 pm, 4:45 pm - nobody called despite my reminding the attendant every 10 minutes. I got worried because the next day was sunday and I would had to waste 2 more days in an alien city where I don't know anybody.

At 5 pm, I raised my voice against the kind of delay and brought this to the notice of a higher official who promptly followed up to see why was there a delay. Shock of the day -  The controller of exams who was supposed to sign the certificate left for the day earlier ( 2:30 pm) due to his personal reasons. My mind blocked, tongue tied, blood boiled, fist closed, frustration mounted...didn't know what to do :X

Anantapur to Kurnool was a 3 hour journey in APSRTC bus and traveling back and forth for a day sounded very boring and tiresome. Then the only option was to stay in Anantapur for entire sunday and come back on monday morning to SKU to get that stupid sign before I could take my certificate and travel back to Hyderabad.

I felt guilty to have brought my friend along with me and hence asked him to go back to Kurnool which he did after some dillydallying. I promised him that I would spend the remaining time somehow as its only one day. What I didn't know was that interval between saturday evening and monday morning would be a hell for me :)

Reason: There was some political rally or meet scheduled on sunday and people from all over rayalaseema districts were supposed to converge in the town and literally take Anantapur by storm. Hence all hotels, lodgings, rooms were booked well in advance.

As soon as my friend left for Kurnool, my eyes accidentally glanced through a local newspaper edition which bragged about the never before never after rally to be scheduled next day. Then I slipped away from the bus stand, approached the nearest lodging, asked if he has an AC room to hire for a day. I still remember his surprised expression when he said "ipudu yaada untai abbi roomsu, entha lekka ichinakoodka dorkaaavu" - means you can't find a room now even if you pay more. I tried my luck at few more hotels but in vain. Its already 7 pm. Squeezed myself into a C grade roadside food-joint, waited for 2 hours to get a table and chair. Somehow had my dinner.

The only place I knew in the town was Bus Station. Went there, tried to find some place to sit and spent time till 12 midnight, but it was getting too congested and packed. I felt I couldn't spend the whole night sitting in one position. Then I got to know that railway station is a stone-throw away. I took my bag, started walking to railway station through a narrow road. Amidst curious passers-by, I reached the rlwy station, purchased a platform ticket, went to second class waiting lounge, found a comfortable chair and slipped into slumber.

Just when I was about to get into a deep sleep, somebody patted me on my shoulder. Yes, that's a ticket collector. He asked me why was I in the lounge. I told I was waiting to receive my friend who was arriving from Vizag (thanks to railway platform announcements, I knew that a train from Vizag was supposed to come at 2 am). TC guy said ok and stayed back in that lounge. 2 am train arrived, TC was staring at me suggesting to leave then. I came out of the lounge, mingled among passengers, went out only to return after 20 mins to take another platform ticket which would be valid for 2 more hours. I also took care to know the next train arriving at 4 am. But it was a Tom and Jerry game between the TC and me for the whole night :(

Finally, it was dawn. Freshened up in waiting lounge and left the railway station for a looooong day to go. By then the town was buzzing with activity thanks to the political meet. Again my destination by default was the bus station :D..went there, ate some breakfast at the bus-stand joint, bought times of india newspaper, filmfare, sportstar and swathi magazines because those were supposed to be my company for the whole day.

Thankfully the previous day, Nepal king and royal family were massacred by their eccentric prince and newspaper had enough fodder for me. I spent till noon somehow and by that time, the newspaper and magazines were borrowed by people of all corners of the bus stand and I never bothered to get those back. A series of forced conversations with co-bus standers started who had all sorts of questions for me like "babu, chala sepati nundi choosthunna, ikkade unnav, em bus ekkali nuvvu ?", "babu, nuvvu edo badha lo unnav, naaku cheppu, badha thagguthadi" :O

Fed up of this unwanted attention and concern, I decided to make a move and see whats around. Humidity was crazy and temperature was boiling. I luckily found some internet center where I planned to spend some 2 hours. But to my horror, the computer there was infested with all XXX pop-ups and videos saved all over the desktop. Adding to my woes, all cubicles were closed and occupied by college going couples busy in their own world. I was the odd man out there and was looked upon as a disturbing agent :-| ..after spending half an hour and not even able to check my email, I shelled out some Rs 30 and thanked myself :)

2 pm, terrible heat, crazy population, nobody to talk, nothing to eat, nowhere to spend time, nothing to do, interfering and intruding co-passengers in bus stand - I wanted to vent the frustration which I did by shouting aloud in a public washroom until others who entered there saw me with disbelief and contempt :-|

At 6 pm, I checked all theaters around and found one movie which was worth watching "priyamaina neeku". I had to wait for 1 hour for a ticket for a movie released more than 3 months back only to find some place to stay for the next 3 hours. How pathetic. Was out by 10 pm, didn't dare to cool my heals for 2 more hours for dinner, rather lived on fruits etc and made my way for my night destination - railway station again :(

I thought that's the worst day I've seen until 2007- when another dreadful situation happened in Canada. Continued below

Misadventure 3: Kitchener, ON, Canada

I arrived to Canada in Aug 2007 and wanted to apply for permanent residence which supposedly needed IELTS score too. I booked for an exam slot in Toronto in Feb 2008 which got canceled due to snow storm and was rescheduled at a town called Kitchener which is some 100 kms from Toronto. It was severe winter. I spoke to a friend of mine who lived in Kitchener and he said I could stay at his place for that one day. I also asked other locals who said I could find some hotels around railway station.

Exam was on Saturday morning at University of Waterloo and I booked a Via rail from Toronto to Kitchener the previous evening so as to reach Kitchener at 8 pm (I didn't have car or G2 license then). After reaching Kitchener railway station, I called that friend who never answered. A slight disturbance kind of feeling crept in.

Then I came out of the station, walked around for a couple of kilometers on one direction. Found no trace of a hotel or any kind of temporary accomodation. I thought I was searching in the wrong direction. Then I caught hold of a pizza store, had pizza and asked the incharge if I could get an address of the nearest hotel, he said he didn't know any (weird !). Its already 10 pm, there was no activity, no buzz, only few stores far from one another and mostly auto repair centers, industrial equipment shops, small factories and  garages. I thought it was a safe bet to spend the night in that VIA rail station (thanks to my earlier experience in Anantapur). Everything went on fine till 11 pm. At 11 pm came an announcement that the station will be closed as the last train just departed. And the temperature outside was -15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit), fresh from the snow-storm of earlier day.

I didn't know about dial services or any other ways of obtaining help in such situations as that was my first winter and never did I face such situation. Also it was 11 pm and was too late to call anybody in Toronto which was 2 hours away. Then I came to terms that's going to be a tough night for me.


11 pm, shivering chill factor, hills of snow all over, hostile ambiance, nobody to talk or direct to. I went back to the pizza store which was open till 12 pm. Once they displayed their closed board, I walked out in pursuit of some hotel. I walked for 4 kms (around 2.5 miles) on 4 sides of the railway station and all I found were industrial workshops, production machinery etc. That was depressing. I was panting in cold and couldn't afford to stay or sit anywhere on the road due to safety issues. I returned to the closed railway station and decided to spend the remaining night in the premises (a bench at the railway tracks). there was no provision to sleep on the bench as it was divided by arm rests (as seen in the adjacent picture - taken recently as a memory of that day :D). So I had to sit along in the open air only to get panicked by hoots of goods trains which pass by occasionally. After 3 am, it became exceedingly cold and hostile. I could not withstand the wind chill which could as well murder me if I stayed there for long.

I went to the main entrance area where I found an arch with a semi-covered pillar / wall (as seen in the pic). I chose that area as that wall could block cold winds blowing all over. So I sat there till 6 am. There was a public telephone in the vicinity and every now and then, people came to use that. If they saw me, they would have got panicked thinking I was some anti-social element and hence I had to hide myself..huh :)

At 6 am, I woke up from my sitting slumber with an expression of triumph as I knew the railway station would be opened at 6 am. I took my bag, reached the main door and saw opening timings as 6 am on every day, but 8:30 am on saturdays. Another 2.5 hours. That was so dejecting. I literally counted seconds till 8:30 when I rushed even before the station master realized that she opened the door. After freshening up, I asked her timings of train to Toronto. She calmly said "9 pm tonight".Kevvvvvvv...I was ready for another adventure that day.

Took a cab, reached the exam center, finished the exam and luckily found few Toronto bound guys who sympathized with my last night plight and offered to drop me to Toronto. Finally I reach home unscathed.

PS: After getting reasonably good score in IELTS and submitting it along with immigration application, I was told I didn't need that because I already crossed eligibility points without IELTS :-|

My Misadventures Part - 1: Mumbai Masala

My friend uploaded a pic in his Facebook wall which reminded me of few misadventures I faced. A funny account of rather not so pleasant days :)

Misadventure 1: Mumbai Masala

Year 2000: When I was in my final B.Tech in Kurnool, I happened to go to friend's house to chill. I knew he had GRE exam the next day and I thought I could share my two cents for his preparation. It was 2 pm. I just asked him to show his hall-ticket which he did. What I saw was "Exam time: 9 am, Location: Some exam center, Mumbai" kevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv... Yes, it was Mumbai indeed, which he didn't notice.

Flashback: During the application process, he filled his first preference as Kurnool, second as Hyderabad and third as Mumbai and submitted the application well in advance; overlooked the location on hall-ticket assuming that he would anyway get Kurnool as the exam center. Yeeeehahahahahaah :D

Flashpresent: Kurnool didn't have direct buses / trains to Mumbai. Options were to go to Hyd (4 hours away) and catch Mumbai bound train and reach exam center in Mumbai by 9 am next day - which was close to impossible as all trains from Hyd to Mumbai start before 6 pm. The other alternative was to catch a bus to Adoni (a border town between AP and karnataka) which is 2 hours away from Kurnool and catch Chennai - Mumbai express which stops at Adoni for a minute at around 4:15 pm.

There started a pakka project plan :). Aunty wanted me to accompany him and I joined the adventure. 2:15 pm was the time and if we caught a bus right then, we would reach Adoni at 4:15 pm and could catch the train which could drop us at Mumbai exactly at 8 am from where we had to search the exam center (neither of us knew Mumbai). So all we could do was to hope that the train to Mumbai was late at Adoni but reached early to Mumbai :)

We started at 2:20 pm, caught the bus from Kurnool bus station at 2:40 pm. Expected time of arrival at Adoni was 4:40 pm. We sat in the first row reserved for ladies (thankfully there were no many ladies to occupy all reserved seats). While the bus driver was taking his own sweet little time at every stop, we started getting friendly with him only to describe our situation after sometime. He was sweet enough to raise the speed above normal acceptable speed. Every minute was precious for us. Every green traffic signal was like a boon. After sometime the expected time of arrival became 4:20 pm when suddenly traffic jam struck us like a bolt of lightning. 10 mins wasted. The driver almost stood on the accelerator for us and finally we reached the place at 4:30 pm. But he dropped us at Adoni bus station and we didn't know how far was the railway station. Luckily an auto guy came to our rescue and we saw God in him :). he dropped at railway station in 10 mins and the by the time we reached there with a certain mad optimism, it was 4:40 and YES..train was late by half an hour :))

We took general compartment tickets and waited for the train. General compartment was so packed that we had to hang on the footboards till Mumbai :D..crazy...we sneaked into a reserved compartment and were walking all along the train for an hour before we found a couple of empty seats (seats to be occupied by passengers in later stops). Then my friend took out his GRE Barron's to study :X...LOL

Couple of hours later, passengers arrived and kicked us away. We again started roaming all over the train careful enough not to get caught by the TC but the moment came and he caught us. We had to shell out Rs.200 (yes, corruption) to stay back in those compartments. No place to sleep or atleast lie down until 4 in the morning. Upon arrival of Pune, we could not control ourselves; we laid down our bedsheets on the walkway and slipped into a extended power-nap until somebody kicked inadvertently at 7 am (when the train arrived into the outskirts of Mumbai).

Then we stood in the queue to brush our teeth and after that found some place to squeeze ourselves only to be subjects of 100 questions by a curious co-passenger. It was tougher than GRE though. Finally we stepped our feet in Mumbai nagari at 8:15 am. Exam was at 9 am, some 1 hour away from Dadar railway station and we didn't know a bit about the city.

We asked the questionnaire guy of the train as how to go to Andheri and he asked us to follow him which we did. He directed us to a local train and we reached Andheri in some 30 mins. 8:45 am. There we took a bus to the destination and produced a Rs 100 note for 2 tickets to Saki Naka. He said he didn't have change and kicked us out of the bus. Huh..then we took an auto rickshaw after some serious bargaining and reached the exam center by 9:10 (yes thats for GRE, a clock-racing exam).

My friend entered the center and then I got some time to think about food. I roamed around, saw the area, stared at pretty girls around, had some stupidest breakfast on the roadside which was the only place available in the walking distance, tried by best to read hindi numbers on local buses, tried to decipher marathi spoken by by-passers, went to police-station (that was the only place in the vicinity with some seating area). By then, my friend completed his exam, got a decent score for the hardships we faced.

Then the siteseeing bug bit us. We wanted to see Gateway of India, Juhu beach - only places we knew in Mumbai. We asked people around us for directions, started our discovery and reached Gateway of India after 2 hours of hardwork, had some lunch, took polaroid pics (saw that pic on my friend's FB wall today), and started for Juhu beach which is again a 2 hour journey from there. After spending an hour or so, an hour long journey to reach Dadar station to go back to Kurnool (Adoni). By the time we reached the train, general compartment was again packed. Ishtory shtarted againnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...imagine how we spent next 15 hours :-|

PS: That guy never applied for US universities despite all the circus. Soon after, he appeared for GATE, got M.Tech admission in a good university and came to US on work visa much later :)

Coming soon in next parts:

Misadventure 2: How I spent 3 days and 2 nights on Anantapur streets, bus station, railway station without an accommodation.
Misadventure 3: How I spent a whole night outdoors in Canadian snowing winter at -15 celsius (5 Fahrenheit)