"The River-Runner of the Himalayan Rapids"

About thirty years ago, a visit to India's northern Himalayan states would have offered sweeping views of the prehistoric icy ravines and the roaring rivers that wind through green valleys. But at the time, what has today become a familiar sight, that of rafts flying down the rapid streams captained by a certain, bearded Delhiwallah, was not yet to be had.

55 year old Yusuf Zaheer is India's pioneering Raja of the rapids. But he is quiet about his achievements,  shrugging away even the fact that many publicity-savvy successors who learned the sport from him, lay claim to the same status. The truth is :Zaheer's Himalayan River Runners (HRR) is India's very first river-rafting and adventure tours company. It was set up way back in the eighties, and since then, thousands of foreign and Indian sports-enthusiasts have taken on North India's very challenging rivers and almost all other rapids across the country, under the very watchful eye and professional guidance of Zaheer and his team.

It all began way back in 1984, when Zaheer returned from intensive training with an American outfit in Oregon. He had rafted north-western American rivers but was still eager to learn more about the peculiarities of India's wide streams, before introducing the sport on the subcontinent himself.  Back in India, he continued training under some Canadians, even travelling back to that country to work two seasons on the Ottawa river in eastern Canada. His chance came three years later. Zaheer led India's first ever international rafting team to a competition in Switzerland. The team won third place. That was the trigger. Just a year later, HRR was born.

"We were the first to introduce eco-friendly tent camps on the sand banks of the Ganga to serve as the hub for the rafting," recalls Zaheer.

Since then, almost all commercial rafting around India has somehow been pioneered by HRR. Many of the guides and owners of rafting outfits across India today, have Zaheer to thank. In fact, it is Zaheer that the governments of the several Himalayan northern Indian states have pulled in as a senior consultant to draw up river safety and camping guidelines.

Zaheer recalls that it was when he was trekking in the early eighties, that he had first caught sight of some Americans rafting on the Upper Ganges. 'I was young, fit and - hooked," he laughs. "I hopped on as a trainee and lived the life I wanted, perpetually outdoors." That is, till he met his lovely wife Ganeve.

Together, the couple got more organized about setting up HRR. Ganeve is Yusuf's business partner too and it is she who 'gave the HRR the direction and support it needed', Yusuf says. HRR offers students' trips and special ones for corporate groups too.

So what's different about rafting in northern India compared to say, in Sri Lanka or elsewhere? "Sri Lanka has some great rafting but to enthusiasts only familiar with the wonderful rapids at Kitulgala,  I would dangle the added attraction of the majestic Himalayas," says Zaheer. "The entire range - including Ladakh - offers year-round destinations. Rafting can be combined with some superlative trekking. And once you've careened down the 'Grand Canyon of Asia' in the the Zanskar range on the 'roof of the world' that is Ladakh, or, paddled the Kameng in the true 'wild east' of India, I promise you will return over and over again."

As he gazes over the swift-flowing Ganga and stokes a campfire, Zaheer  turns poetic. "River-rafting is different things to different people" he says. "For pure adrenaline junkies, it's the 'Class 5, the most intense white-water section that appeals. To others, its just the 'yahoo' factor.  But at the core of our trips at HRR is what we feel about it ourselves : each river is a unique, living being that offers both a physical and spiritual journey. Each bend unfolds a different facet. The peace of hearing the paddle dip in the water, the flapping wings of a fishing eagle overhead ,  the sudden roar of a rapid around the next bend. It's like there is no tomorrow."

Website: http://www.hrrindia.com

By Padma Rao Sundarji