We started our journey, from Calicut to Pulikkayam through Koodaranji-Maikkav route, when the rain begins. Dinesh and team were waiting for us with a raft. We were late and so we decided to pick up a taxi to reach there. They continuously phoned us. The water level was less there. So we went to Kurunkayam. We took a little effort to get into the water from the road. Amith and Dinesh climbed down easily with the raft. They both had much experience with the water from the rivers originating in the mountains of Uttaraghand.
The Brief Lecture
We reached at the lower ‘Malabar Express’. This is the nickname they had given for the water fall there. The monsoon river is enjoying the journey through the rocks, shrubs and mangroves. We are going to get down into a magical beauty of nature created by the convergence of green forest, water and the black rocks. As though this is an adventurous journey, Dinesh has given us a detailed lecture about rafting. He taught us how to raft and what are guidelines to be followed when we fall into the water. This made us in a state of fear that some even thought of returning back. But his instructions were like a bail. If anything happens to anyone, nobody should tell that I was ignorant about the things.
The Real Adventure
We must not wear the life jacket so much tightly or loosely. If it is tight, when we fall into the water there is a chance to get suffocated. And if it is loose there is a chance that it will be masked on our face and thus we might become breathless. To save a drowning person the people used to hold on at the life jacket. Next he instructed us about the usage of rope and the helmet. The helmet should be fit and the person has to be seated near the corner of the raft. The legs should be placed correctly on the raft. The ‘T’ side of the rafting stick must be tightly held with the hands. We must focus on the knee part rather than arms. We should raft forward when they says ‘Fast forward’ and raft in the backward direction when they says ‘Backward’. The ‘Stop’ instruct us to stop rafting.
We can hold on to the safety line rope in the middle of the raft. Sit inside the raft when we hear ‘Get Down’ and return to the back position when we hear ‘Get Back’. Falling into the water, we should not close the eyes. Pay attention to the instructions. Raft according to the flow of the water. Hold up the legs. We can also save a person in the water by letting him to hold on to the rafting stick. The instructions were completed. Our heart got filled with the thrill and joy of rafting in the water. We also got training for the first 10 minutes and then begin the real journey.
The actual thrill of the rafting lies in the water flowing from the gaps of the rocks. We continued our journey by floating in between the trees and the rocks. Dinesh made everyone wet using his stick. This helps to get rid of the fear and cold. There came another huge flow of water and the surrounding got filled with thrilling sounds. The rafting boat finally floats and got stuck on a rock. Dinesh helped to make it again into rafting.
We reached near the Ilanthu Kadav Bridge and those who were interested in swimming jumped into the water according to the instruction. The life jacket helped us to float in the water. There were many spectators on the bridge. We also understood the method to get into the raft from there. Again we headed forward with the raft. This time it got stuck by hitting the bridge. Suddenly we heard the instruction ‘Get Down’. Then we continued the journey until reaching the rocks near the old bridge.
A group of another people was waiting for another adventurous journey. We went to the Toddy shop near by the river and had tapioca and beef. That made our lunch amazingly astonishing. The returning journey was through Pulloorampara- Thiruvambadi- Koduvally route. Being inside the bus I felt like floating in the water and I cherished those joyous memories again and again.