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I just realised the other day that I haven’t been anywhere fun in a while. So while I sulk in my corner, here’s a guest post from Dhamini Ratnam:

All it takes is one pretty stone, and I’m hooked. Then, destination and journey both become unimportant, and the only thing I can think of are stones. Big ones, round ones, oval-shaped ones, funny patchy designed ones, smooth surfaced, cool blue ones, multi-ringed purple ones. Never mind the raft full of people looking at me as if I was off my rockers.

I’d gone to Rishikesh two weeks ago for a river rafting trip on the Ganga. We had camped along the banks of the river somewhere between Shivpuri and Devprayag in the Gharwal district of Uttarakhand. On one of our rafting trips downstream, we’d stopped at a sandy patch that was covered with the most beautiful stones I’d seen in my life. I picked and chose my stones very carefully, both the days we went rafting. By the end of it, my raft mates were pretty used to me trudging up to our raft guide with outstretched hands holding a couple of stones, asking him to keep them in the dry bag (which, the rest had filled with rather unnecessary things like cameras and sunglasses).

So, when on one stopover at a rocky outcrop I came back to the raft dragging a six-foot long perfectly sculpted log of wood I found lying behind a boulder, not one of them batted an eyelid. My guide gingerly took it from me and stuck one end of it under the raft’s footrest.

I wish I had a photograph to show you just how graceful the log was. It was bent at some places, and crooked in some others. But what amazed me was the way it was sculpted just right to fit over my shoulder if I wished to carry it parallel to the ground and fitted perfectly in my palm if I chose to walk like Moses with a staff. It had elbows that stuck out at odd angles, and a definite knee with gout. This log of wood had more personality than most people I’ve met in my life.

Heading back to Mumbai, I had my misgivings whether the airport and airline authorities would see eye to eye with me regarding my log of wood. Although my friend had packed it perfectly in bubble paper, I had my doubts. We’re living in a world where security measures follow little logic and even lesser tolerance. However, my staff elicited no more excitement than a raised eyebrow and a curious poke.

The rocks however were packed safely in a paper bag inside my knapsack. But at the cabin luggage screening, the policeman sitting in front of the X-ray machine stopped me and asked me what was inside the paper bag. When I told him they were stones from Rishikesh, he looked up from the screen. “Can I see them?” he asked. As I took the stones out, he placed them on the counter and rubbed each stone’s surface gently, marvelling at their smoothness and patterns. He looked awestruck – just as I had looked when I was picking them. Clearly I’d found a kindred soul.

What is the craziest thing you’ve collected on your trip – mail in and tell me if it beats a six-foot long staff and six stones?

(15 votes, average: 4.8 out of 5)

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Posted by Neha Dara on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 8:33 pm 
Filed under Travel · Tagged bubble paper, Devprayag, Gharwal, log of wood, raft, raft guide, Rishikesh, Shivpuri, stones, Uttarakhand, X-ray machine

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