Rency Thomas joins us to recount his incredible 2,750-kilometer solo journey from the source to the sea of India's Ganga (Ganges) River. Starting at the foot of a glacier and ending at the ocean, this expedition was the culmination of eight years of preparation. Hear firsthand from Rency about his experiences, challenges, and the cultural significance of this holy river.
Enjoy today's episode with Rency Thomas as he shares his inspiring story of humbleness, patience, adventure, and the deep connection to India's most sacred river.
- Rency Thomas (Instagram)
- Live360 Adventures
- Ganges River (Wikipedia)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the
Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.
I'm your host. My name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.
Welcome to today's episode of Paddling the Blue. Ren C.
Thomas joins today's episode to recount his 2,750 kilometer solo source to sea
(00:23):
trip of India's Ganga River.
Starting at the foot of a glacier and ending at the ocean. This journey down
the most holy river in India using a mode of transportation rarely seen was
the culmination of eight years of preparation.
So we get the opportunity to hear firsthand from Rensi today about that trip.
We'll hear from Rensi in just a moment.
(00:43):
James and Simon at onlineseakyking.com continue to produce great content to
help you evolve as a paddler and as a coach.
You'll find everything from basic strokes and safety to paddling in tides, surfing,
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(01:05):
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10 off just for being a member of the paddling the blue community enjoy today's
episode with renci thomas hello renci how are you today great and thank you
very much for having me john you are You are welcome. So excited.
Yes, I am as well. This will be a great conversation about a really impressive
(01:28):
and really interesting expedition.
So we're here to talk about your Ganga. Did I get the pronunciation right?
Thank you. Yes, it's Ganga. Ganga. That's what we Indians call it.
All right. So we'll talk about that.
But first, let's talk a little bit about you and your adventure background.
You've got quite a varied adventure background. So what got you started in adventure sports?
(01:52):
So during my college final year time, I was always into, I have a,
you know, a connection towards adventure, but during my final year of college,
I got bedridden due to a chronic arthritis condition,
which stopped me from getting into Air Force, which was my ultimate aim to become an Air Force pilot.
(02:13):
So due to that condition, I couldn't continue my Air Force career.
I think then that's from where I
started doing my sports flying private flying like I got my private flying license
did some sports flying then I realized it's a pretty very expensive sport especially
in India it's not easy to continue flying slowly and gradually I got into other
(02:35):
sports like mountaineering started with mountaineering a lot of trekking rainforest trekking.
And then slowly got into river sports also so rafting was the first one and
thankfully I I started paddling in Ganga itself.
So I got some opportunity to work in whitewater sections of Ganga.
And that's how it all went on.
(02:56):
So I do a lot of adventures, mainly big expeditions, overlanding expeditions, rafting expeditions.
And mountaineering is one major thing which we keep on doing.
Okay. Now you mentioned sport flying in there, and that you have a private pilot's
license. What is sport flying?
So sports flying is mostly the small microlight aircrafts, which are flown mostly
(03:19):
for recreational purposes.
So initially, my initial stages of my career, we used to give microlight flying
experience so a person can sit on the co-pilot seat and experience flying like a joyride.
So we were providing this in the city called Bangalore in South India.
So that's how it started. Okay.
(03:41):
Interesting. Do you still do any of that? Rarely, but yes, I do.
I do fly, but not in a very serious way. Okay.
So you couldn't go to the Air Force career and go quite that high.
So you decided to get as high as you possibly could on Earth and mountaineering.
Yes, yes, that's how I started. So flying and then slowly got my mountaineering
(04:05):
certifications and got into a lot of trekking and slowly into climbing peaks.
We have a lot of 6,000, 7,000 meter peaks in India. So it's in Himalayas. It's never ending.
I think it's very difficult to climb all the peaks here in India.
Now with mountaineering being a passion of yours, why paddling?
(04:29):
So it was never a single sport which I was focused on.
I always wanted to get into outdoors, experience new sports,
learn new sports, get into it.
So I was into mountaineering and trekking and then I got the opportunity to
learn rafting when I was in the whitewater sections of Genga and slowly started with rafting,
(04:50):
learned a bit of rafting and then of course the kayaking bug got into and learned kayaking there.
And then I was in Hong Kong for some time working with Outward Bound Hong Kong.
That's where the sea kayaking started.
So there we did quite a lot of sea kayaking.
And that's where the, you know, I think the passion for sea kayaking also grew in.
(05:14):
And so I have to imagine that you're as you're on the mountain and you see a
river going back down the mountain the other way.
You're like, hey, maybe I can paddle that thing too. Yeah.
So you're rafting and whitewater and then that grew into sea kayak,
So I do both the paddling, but mostly I'm more comfortable in sea kayaks,
(05:36):
but I do whitewater kayaking too.
But yeah, now I feel more comfortable in long journeys in kayaks.
All right. Now you are the first Indian guest that we've had,
and we've rarely talked even about that part of the world in general.
So this is fascinating. We'll learn about a new part of the world here,
but is paddling common in India?
(05:57):
Very rare i would say it's a completely new
sport whitewater is picking up
whitewater there are great whitewater rivers in india
so whitewater kayaking is getting
better and better every year so we have some amazing.
Athletes from india who are doing really
good in whitewater sections but sea kayaking is still
(06:20):
i would say a very new thing
in india there are very few kayaks
available in india right now i think
the kind of uh if you ask me how much
paddling people does it will be rare like you can count
with your fingers like the people who are into sea
kayaking okay so it's very new in india all right
(06:40):
even though you've got a pretty long coast i
mean uh aside from the river itself which
your expedition was 2600 kilometers you've
got a long coast that is an ocean coast yes.
I i even i have i personally
come from the place called kanyakumari the southern peninsula tip
(07:01):
of the country so that's my hometown so even
though i am from a place which is my from
my home the ocean or the sea is
just around 15 kilometers away even then
until my college days i was new
to any kind of adventure sports so i
think it's not there in the culture i would i
(07:23):
think that's the major problem here and now people have getting the taste of
it so there are a lot of mountaineering and trekking happening in india indians
doing a lot of mountaineering and trekking and whitewater rafting is a big thing
here but people pursuing into outdoor sports and And getting expertise in sports.
(07:44):
Learning it and venturing out into outdoors on their own is still new for India.
So I think it's the cultural difference may take some more years for people
to understand the value of adventure or outdoors and, you know,
start getting into it in a very serious manner.
There are few people like me or many some great adventurers still in India.
(08:09):
Yeah, but it's all people, you know, very small bunch of people.
Majority of the people still look up to a conventional job and...
Go for some other recreation than outdoors okay yeah
you hear a lot of folks from outside india coming
to india for mountaineering and such but it
just you said it's not really grabbed on with the culture
(08:31):
there yet of people in india yes yes
so it's rarely done as a
recreational sport even there are a lot of guiding happening
in india especially in mountaineering and whitewater
sections but it's all mostly done as
a as a part of job or as a part of living you know a way of living okay finding
(08:54):
a you know a job source then doing it for with passion and love for the sport
so why do you suppose it has not crept into the the recreational pursuits of indian residents.
Again as i said it's uh it's 100
not there in the culture but now since the
(09:15):
young people have a lot of uh you know
extra income where they can get into these sports and and also the lack of awareness
it's still a developing country so people people are more into conventional
jobs and conventional things than getting into outdoors and knowing new sports.
(09:36):
So sports culture itself is a new thing in India and people are now coming into,
there are a lot of young people, young enthusiasts who are learning sports,
learning whitewater kayaking, learning surfing and learning other sports and coming into.
So probably in the near future, you can see a lot of people getting into recreational sports also.
(09:57):
That's great. Well, we'll look forward to hearing more from the Indian community,
but I'm really interested in hearing about the Ganga expedition that you've done.
So that expedition combined quite a few disciplines over its 2,600-kilometer
length. So tell us about the trip.
So it's because the whole river, it's a massive river.
(10:18):
It covers five states of India and a total of around 2,700.
So my GPS calculated 2,750, but that also includes some trekking and mountain biking sections also.
It's the river headwaters of the river starts at an altitude of 4,023 kilometers,
(10:42):
which is a really high altitude and it's not navigable there.
So the only way to reach the source is by hiking.
So we hiked up to the glacier. It's called Gomukh Glacier. That's where this headwater starts.
And the river is called Bhagiradi from where it starts.
So it's around 23 kilometers of hike
(11:02):
all the way down till the road that
called Gangotri the place called Gangotri
and from Gangotri till a place called Devprayag
again it's not navigable part it's through
mountain terrain and gorges whitewater
sections but steep whitewater sections are
not navigable again so or runnable so we i did a cycling all the way till dev
(11:29):
priyag and dev priyag is the place where this two river the headwater bhagirathi
and another river called alaknanda joins and it's the confluence it's also very holy for.
In indian culture so from that place the name comes in the ganga name comes
to the river so So from there, it's called Ganga. Till then,
(11:51):
it's called Bhagirathi River.
So and the confluence is really beautiful because the turquoise colored water
from the Bhagirathi joins or confluences with the murky waters of Alaknanda River.
And these two rivers joins and becomes Ganga. It becomes almost greenish color, beautiful.
(12:11):
And that's where the renewable whitewater section of Ganga starts.
So from there, I started whitewater kayaking.
All the way till the place called Haridwar which is again that's the end of
the white water section and from there the river touches the plains and it becomes
wide and divides into a lot of channels,
(12:33):
and from Haridwar all the way till
Gangasagar island that is where the last part
of the river it's the delta where
the river enters into the sea the mouth
of the river and till there I got on
the sea kayak and there are around five barrages
or the dams in between so i used a
(12:55):
cycle again to cross those dams and
again get on to the kayak okay crossing it all right and you said it was a total
of 2750 kilometers yes uh so the clock 2750 kilometers and a total of 95 days
to complete it 95 days well and then the and then the the sea kayak portion
(13:15):
was the 2600 kilometer kilometer.
Sea kayak was approximately around 2,000 kilometers.
Ah, okay. I heard that wrong. 2,200 kilometers, yeah. Okay.
Whitewater section was around 100 kilometers, and rest was the cycling and the
trekking part up in the mountains, yeah.
And in terms of the whitewater portion, what classification would you put that whitewater at?
(13:38):
I think it was all class 3, and there are two rapids which is nearly class 4+,
plus rest everything class three class two plus three
plus rapids all right and you ran this entire trip solo
yes so during the whitewater
section there were a few kayaking friends
who joined us joined me on the river okay during the whitewater section so but
(14:02):
after that whitewater kayaking uh the sea kayaking was 100 solo nobody in the
river okay it's a completely unexplored region and no navigational charts,
no idea which route to go.
So the whitewater section is pretty commercial route. So it's like our playground,
our home ground. But after that, the real challenge started.
(14:23):
Okay. Yeah. Having a few people with you increases that margin of safety, but interesting.
So no navigation charts on the trip and it braided off into different channels on that.
And did that get confusing for you? Oh, it was very confusing.
The biggest problem is the after every monsoon
the river completely changes its course so
(14:44):
even the gps data or the satellite imagery
doesn't help most of the satellite imagery which we get from
google earth or other apps are all pre-monsoon imagery so after the monsoon
the river is completely different so most of the time when even if i take reference
with the satellite imagery the the water will be on the place where in the map it shows as a land.
(15:10):
So yeah so it
was crazy and these channels are they are
it really in this flat plains especially in the
first uh around 400 500 kilometers
of the first section the river is too wide and it divides into multiple multiple
channels it's very difficult to understand what is which is the actual channel
(15:30):
because sometimes you just get into a false channel and suddenly it reaches a shallow end or a murky,
slushy area where you can't even potage your kayak, heavy kayak.
And that could be a long channel and you get down to the end and you're like, well, now what do I do?
Yes, yes. There has been many situations, but thankfully not much.
(15:52):
But there were situations where you don't even have enough water to paddle.
So your kayak just gets stuck. And then, as you know, when it gets shallow,
the water flow starts increasing.
Freezing so there is no way you to back
paddling and coming back so you have
to get out of the kayak and as soon as you get out that's when you understand
(16:14):
it's a knee-deep slush underneath oh then then you start pulling your kayak
all the way out and then again you start paddling okay eventually it reaches
to the main channel but once you get into those false channels it's very difficult.
Yeah. Some might say that, well, it's a river. You just follow it as it goes,
(16:34):
you know, follow it down river and follow the current, but that may not be the
case. So what time of year did you do your trip?
I did it. I started from Gomuk Glacier on 4th of November 2023 and finished on 6th of February 2024.
So it was winter sun time in India, peak winters. The reason for mainly for
(16:56):
the winters is the summers are going to be very hard, very harsh.
So that's not the right time to do this long expedition.
So I took winter as the right time because the water levels will be good apt
and the heat will be more bearable.
I think the cold is much more bearable than the heat. Okay.
(17:18):
Now what kind of temperatures are we dealing with? In the higher up mountains,
it was always below zero degree Celsius.
While hiking, we got snowfall also.
And coming down, it was soaring around 10 degree Celsius.
And once we come towards the sea, like maybe 500 kilometers before the sea,
(17:39):
it's temperate conditions like 15, 20 degree Celsius in the daytime. Okay.
All right. So when I think winter, it's much colder where I am.
Yes, yes, it is. All right. So you mentioned the cultural significance of the
river just a couple of times.
Tell us what the river means to the Indian culture.
(18:00):
So in Indian culture, most of the rivers in India are considered holy as per
Hindu mythology or Hindu culture.
And also the allied other religion like Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism also.
So all these Indian religions considered almost all the rivers and mountains as gods.
(18:25):
And in terms of holiness, the river Ganga is considered to be the most holiest river.
And also it's said that if you take a bath in this river,
you you all your sins are washed away
and you get salvation so it's
that holy and the significance of the
river because this river is mentioned in almost all
(18:47):
the old epics and all the scriptures in in in our culture so the river river
is even if you are from the south of southern part of the country or in the
northern part of the country in all your folklores in all your stories all your
gods, all your mythology,
river Ganga is going to come one or the other place.
(19:09):
And you mentioned that it's significant in terms of commerce and just living.
And being such a wide river, the whole Ganga Basin accommodates almost half
of India's vast population.
So it helps in a lot of irrigation.
So, the river plain, once it touches the plain, it goes through four major states
(19:36):
of India in which lots and lots of industries.
Agricultural area, all these are fed from this river.
So you will see most of these big cities, many cities like Kolkata,
Patna, then you have Banaras, the oldest city called Banaras or Varanasi and
(19:58):
then you have Kanpur and lot many cities or towns buzzes around on the banks of this river.
And all these towns and cities are mostly either industrially prominent or agriculturally prominent.
So across the river, throughout the river, while I was paddling,
I could see vast farmlands on both the sides.
(20:21):
So it's mostly the irrigation and also the drinking water comes from this river.
So it's very, very important in terms of commerce, life, agriculture,
industries, and also it is used for transport also.
So after crossing a particular area, almost half of the river,
then the river becomes a navigable channel.
(20:43):
So a lot of commerce also happens through this river.
And nearing to the sea, the Kolkata Harbor or the Diamond Harbor,
it's situated in the river. So it's on the mouth of the river.
So a lot of ships comes in and goes.
So in every way, this river is very prominent for India.
And with that size of a population living along the river and that much commerce
(21:06):
on the river, there's been a lot of talk that I've heard in the past about pollution
on the river. So tell us about that.
Uh i will never say there is no pollution pollution
is a reality there are and what
makes it worse is a lot of dams in between so you
know the more it gets polluted the river cannot
(21:26):
flush all all of it out also so the
pollution is increasing day by day but in
the year of 2015 i did this expedition in
motorboats so i was able to go
the same route in motorboats and
that time the pollution I would say was really bad
in terms of industrial pollution and other types of
(21:47):
pollution but this time going at a more slow
pace slowly paddling down I
realized things are getting better but the
plastic pollution has gone high so last time the
kind of plastic I had seen I would say more than
plastic it was industrial waste but this time it was plastic
plastic everywhere and it's there
(22:09):
i think that is one big pollutant which
we can see with our naked eyes and in terms
of wildlife also i think there is a drastic change in the river which which
is sad that the pollution of course it's because of the pollution that the wildlife
like kind of dolphins lot of turtles i could see a lot less than what i said
(22:33):
saw around eight years back. Okay.
Are there efforts underway to clean that up?
Lots of efforts are going on from the government side, but still I would say
it's not to the level it's required, but still it's better that there is something happening.
I think a lot of industries have been curbed, so unprocessed water is less now,
(22:59):
so they are treating the water before they are flushing it flushing it into
the river, at least from the big industries.
So I think there is a progress.
Let's hope the progress and the work becomes more efficient and fast.
Excellent. Well, yeah, let's hope so. Now you mentioned the width of the river.
How wide at its widest point?
(23:19):
So closer to the mouth, it was around 20 kilometers wide.
So up going towards it's on an average I would say in the plains the river was
around 5 to 6 kilometers wide. That's quite,
(23:42):
a distance. Yes it is. Alright. I would not have expected that.
Are there points where it narrows quite narrow?
Yeah. There are a few places where maybe the river seems like it's 2 kilometers
wide but then you realize the river is into two channels so so the one channel
is two kilometers and then you have an island in between the other channel is
(24:05):
on the other side it's again.
What was the reception from people in the towns as you were paddling the river?
People were very curious.
They find it very amazing to see somebody all alone in the river.
It was mixed emotions and many people considered me as a chosen one.
(24:29):
That was a very exhilarating experience because there were places where people came to worship me,
seeing a person coming through this river
for such a long distance is somebody who is really
a pious or a holy person so i had that kind of experiences then most of the
(24:50):
places people were overwhelmed seeing how are you able to do this how from where
do you get this courage because it's pretty new for them and they have never
seen somebody paddling all along in this river so So especially,
you know, paddling, mostly they see motorboats or people travel,
even the fishermen travel with mostly the motors fitted in it.
(25:12):
So paddling, it was where they were curious.
And also the most important thing was my kayak was a red kayak.
Long one. So they are seeing it for the first time in their life, a kayak like this.
So curious eyes always comes calling from the shores, you know,
please come here, come here.
We want to see your kayak. we want to see your boat so
(25:33):
it was always a curious thing people had
a lot of doubts questions it was not easy for us
to you know camp every day because every
time we camp we will have at least like 100
to 200 visitors from the villages coming in
in different times you know every time you have
at least 20-30 people asking curious questions most
(25:54):
of the time it's the same repetitive questions every day where are
you coming from how are you able to travel why are you doing this
all those questions but at the same time it's
it's also it was also an experience you know an
opportunity to understand them know their culture know their dialects know their
life and also understand what's going on around the river so the another fascinating
(26:17):
thing is in India so every maybe 100 kilometers down the river you see a completely
different culture and different dialect.
So even the language is different every time.
And the way they dress, the way they eat, it's all different.
Wow. And so how do you adapt to that as you move along to the expedition?
(26:39):
It was fascinating. And at the same time, I would say I would give the credit
to my backup team who was also traveling on the road while I was in the river.
So they used to most of the time, wherever possible, if you are able to meet,
they used to come and reach the shore before I reach.
(26:59):
And they used to manage the crowd and
people and make them understand what is going to happen what
is happening so the stress on me was almost very less when i used to come so
i think that helped otherwise it would have been really difficult because when
i am all alone after paddling for almost there were days where i paddled for
(27:20):
almost eight hours nine hours a day and then you come Come down,
get out, and then you are in a hurry to make a shelter or get some rest.
And that's when there's a lot of people comes in and starts asking questions.
They are curious and it's all very honest questions. So you don't feel like being rude.
(27:41):
So you keep on answering them, answering them. And there will be a certain time,
you know, you get really tired of it.
Yeah, but it must have been fascinating for both you just seeing all those different
cultures and experiencing all those folks.
I think that was one thing which kept me moving because by the time I finished
50 days, it was very difficult for me.
(28:01):
It was mentally, physically, it was very difficult.
And also we had one more challenge was the funds because to make people understand
this kind of expedition and get some sponsorship was very difficult for me.
So it was pretty much supported mostly by my friends,
friends family or known people and and
(28:21):
almost all the savings which i had so there
were situations where we had some fund issues or
or the funds which were supposed to come which didn't
come so almost like half of the after 50 days
it was there were days where i was not able
to move and also the arthritis pain really kicked
in so there were times when i used to
(28:43):
cry sitting in the kayak paddling because i can stop paddling as
i will lose the pace so i keep paddling paddling
paddling and keep crying at the
same time with the pain so uh but
i think this this fascination these people you know when there is a low day
then then you get some enthusiastic people coming and motivating us telling
(29:06):
you know you are doing great we are so proud of you and we can't believe that
this is this is something, somebody's doing this.
So these kind of words, these kind of motivation kept us moving forward one day after day.
So the arthritis, you started mentioning that and about how that affected you.
Tell us how that affected you throughout the whole trip.
(29:27):
And how you manage that? So I thought I'll be able to manage it with my regular
medicines in the starting.
But slowly going forward, it was really hurting because sitting,
I usually don't get out of the kayak during the trip because there were two reasons.
One is you rarely get a good place to get out in the river because most of the
(29:52):
time the banks are all slushy and watery and a lot of people around.
So i try to be almost in the middle
of the river and try to get the current and keep moving and
the other thing is the crocodiles no well get some
deserted area then you know you you never know what is lurking under those murky
(30:12):
waters so so that that was scary so i even i have a pee bottle in my kayak and
so i i try not to get out of the kayak most of the day so it's a continuous six to
seven hours of sitting or paddling in the river so
that was very difficult my i had
(30:32):
swellings almost all my fingers my right hand two fingers got deformations and
very severe swellings so i had to paddle with only two fingers and my thumb
i had to keep my two fingers out so if you had seen few of my photos at instagram
you will notice my i'm holding the paddle right hand.
(30:52):
With two fingers uh you know opened up okay
so it was it was very painful and sometimes you can't even do one stroke it's
that painful but then some kind of an energy is always there telling you to
push keep moving keep moving and then i make some small strokes and then after
some time you still feel good and you keep paddling.
(31:16):
You just persevere. You continue through. Continue through.
Yes, it was. And the other challenge was getting out.
So after sitting for one or two hours in the kayak with this condition,
when you get out, it's too painful.
The stiffness is too high in the thighs and the legs.
So balancing was very difficult when you get out of the kayak.
(31:38):
So that was something which I was finding very challenging. It takes me some
time to get out of those pain and get my legs normal.
As you know, while paddling, of course, you get numb.
But numbness with the pain was a little too much.
So are there special exercises or stretches or anything that you did while you were off the water?
(32:01):
Yes, yes. So before starting paddling, I make sure I'm stretching,
I'm warming up before paddling.
And after coming back again i i
made sure uh you know i'm stretching and paddling uh
doing some good exercises warming up i
think that kept moving and i usually get good rest
in the night and mornings again you feel fresh
(32:22):
but as soon as you start paddling the pain
starts kicking kicking in but uh the other
the other thing which helped was the nutrition you know
the food we always made sure we are
we were cooking on our own never used any food
from outside so i think that also helped us
a lot because as you know the water quality or
(32:44):
the food quality may not be good almost everywhere across so i think that really
helped none of us or i never got any sickness or any kind of issues other than
this arthriticity so the only issue which i had to fight with was It was only the pain.
Everything was taken care of well. All right. Well, that's certainly a significant issue still.
(33:08):
Um time time off the water or time on
the water and off the water i guess so you mentioned that you would paddle
six to eight hours a day is that right yeah so there were days where i paddled
like eight hours nine hours but on an average it was of six hours if i would
say average time because as winters closed in in the plains you will get very
(33:30):
heavy fogs okay so the visibility was very
bad and getting into those waters with low
with nil visibility and especially big
boats coming in and going that was very scary so
my after like for 30-40 days
I was losing a lot of good time in
the morning waiting for the fog to clear up so I
(33:53):
think I think that was one big challenge we were facing
across until we reached closer to
the ocean so yeah so the timing the
paddling time kept on varying sometimes when if i have a clear day then i keep
on pushing and then if uh it's foggy then wait till the fogs clear up and evening
also the uh it gets foggy early so i have to bank fast and you also had a policy
(34:18):
within your team of getting off the water early.
Yes so we had a cut off time of four o'clock because uh during winters it gets
dark by around around 5, 5.30 in India.
So our cutoff time was four o'clock, but I would say I think that cutoff time
really helped us to plan properly and get off the water before it gets dark.
(34:42):
So I think there were only three or four days where I had to paddle in slight darkness.
Otherwise, every day we used to get out of the water before the dark,
keeping the safety in place, yeah.
And of the 95 days, how many days did you have to take off, if any?
(35:02):
I think, yes, yes, we did take off for approximately 15 days, 16 days in total.
In that, I think six to seven days was due to very bad weather conditions.
We had to wait. Either it's too windy or it's too foggy that you're sitting,
you're getting ready, ready your kayak near
(35:23):
the river and you're sitting all geared up and
waiting waiting for the fog to clear up so that
was days and there were days when it was too rainy and
windy so one or two days so it took us like 16 days we had off okay so and then
we had single you know rest days after like 10 days or 11 days of continuous
(35:47):
paddling so it was 16 days where like we didn't do any activity And did you
camp most of the way or have other places to stay?
Yes. So except in the big cities where we don't get a campsite because it's
too populated and crowded and it's not, you know, clean or safe to camp.
(36:08):
Those places we took Airbnbs, but rest every places it was all camping.
Okay. So I would say 95 days, maybe 85, 88, 89, 80 days, above 80 days,
it was all camping, camping.
All right. And again, with the cities and with the population that lives along
the river, did you find large areas where it was unpopulated?
(36:33):
I think for me, in the river, it was a lot of plain areas with unpopulated region
because it's mostly the farmland or the forest land, which I see.
But the people, the backup team coming from the road, for them,
there is always a village just before the river.
So I can't say it's an unpopulated region.
(36:56):
It's pretty much everywhere it's populated and densely populated.
So we also had a policy for the safety. We always camp whenever we are meeting.
We camp near a village. so so so that
when the backup team comes towards the river
they get to meet the villagers or the senior people members
(37:18):
in the village and get their permission and so
that they know that we are camping here so because that
was important because i have heard about a lot of uh you know untoward instances
happening uh in the previous expeditions people who have died so i think this
helped us to be safe and we had zero incident or we were 100% safe throughout
(37:41):
the expedition because of that.
Okay. Now you just mentioned something in there that I'm curious about.
You mentioned other expeditions that have tried.
Is yours the first known expedition to complete source to sea?
Yes yes that was mine so but there were people so
the first person to complete the whole
expedition solo kayaking it's
(38:02):
me but there have been people have tried
before also but they were either robbed or they couldn't complete or they had
some logistical issues in between there have been instances where people couldn't
complete even 10-15 days and they have to go back So I have heard about all
those instances before.
(38:22):
So I did my own good research and we could understand then what went wrong in most of the places.
Most of the time it was wrong gears or under preparation. They took the river very lightly.
All right. And the water will always win. So you have to respect it. Yeah.
Correct. You mentioned your backup team. Tell us about your backup team.
(38:45):
So it was three people in
total in a vehicle so one of
my friend Yograj who is again from
mountain village he himself is an
outdoor person we climb a lot together and did a few expeditions together so
he was taking care of the logistics and my wife she's an artist so she was there
(39:07):
in the backup she was the person who was documenting the whole expedition she was the only girl in the
team so she was she was taking care of all kinds of permissions you know pr
and and mostly documenting the expedition so we are planning to release a documentary
also so she did the whole shooting part.
(39:30):
And then I had another friend who is again from Ladakh, again,
a mountain town up in the north, northernmost part of the country.
So he was there taking care of the navigation and other parts.
So he was there for almost two months.
Then he had to go back for some work. Then another river friend,
(39:50):
who is also a rafter and paddler, he joined us for the last one and a half months. Okay.
So other than those small whitewater sections that you did with others to increase
that margin of safety, the rest of the actual expedition itself was solo and
then your backup team supported you once you got off the water?
Yes, yes, yes. That was the backup team. So there were days where we couldn't
(40:12):
meet the backup team because most of the places, the road, so it's the vast
floodplains, which is all sandy or slushy where the vehicle or the people cannot reach.
So there were times where we couldn't meet, but I always had my own shelter,
emergency ration and so that I can be independent at least for three, four days easily.
(40:33):
So everything was there in the kayak always. So even if we are not able to meet, I'm good.
But we were able to meet most of the places most of the time.
But there were situations where, you know, they have to come all the way,
like, I don't know, walk for almost one kilometer towards the river,
then carry the kayak back and camp.
And then next day again, you know, partake the kayak and put it back in the same spot.
(40:57):
All right. So, yeah. So you're always making sure you're starting from start
or ending and starting at the same place.
Yes, yes, yes. Good. There had to be a lot of logistics that go into planning
something like this. How do you plan a trip like this?
It took me almost eight years. The first expedition which we did in the motorboats,
it was two motorboats and like around 10, 15 people.
(41:21):
So during that expedition, I had a pretty good idea about the terrain for the
kayak, you know, the route, everything.
Still it took me eight years of planning and you
know preparing myself before i got into because
you have to since there is no navigation available there is no map or no previous
(41:42):
history available so it's very difficult it was like going into an uncharted
terrain you know especially planning your campsites for example you are on the
right bank and then there is no way you can go to the
left bank and and then for next 100 or 200
kilometers there is no camping spot on the right
bank so if the backup team has to reach you then you
(42:04):
they have to come to the left bank and there is no bridge across so
you know there were a lot of complicated logistics which
we had to plan so it took me a lot of
time using maps charts planning every day
day by day each day how it so initially the
plan was to complete it in 100 days so i
had a 100 day plan with me but we overshoot
(42:27):
and we did it in a much faster way time but the
planning really took a toll and there were a lot
of things which didn't go with as per the plan but but i think planning and
preparation is very important and for me doing such a long expedition or paddling
for such a long time i have done with my friends but not alone anytime so that
(42:47):
was the biggest challenge for that i I did a one-month training, endurance training.
I went to backwaters in the southern part of the country.
Every day, I used to paddle for six, seven hours all alone and see how much
I can go, how much faster I can go, how my kayak performs, how I perform.
Am I able to paddle for such a long time all alone or not?
(43:09):
So before the expedition, one month, I dedicatedly spent for training myself.
How did you keep in touch with your backup team?
I had a walkie-talkie, which had a pretty good range of around 6-7 kilometers coverage.
But higher than that, we are not permitted to use as civilians in India.
(43:30):
So we can't use satellite phones also in India. It's completely banned.
So the only way of communication was mobile communication, which was sketchy in many places.
But still, we managed. But mostly the communication was with the mobile phones.
And while if we are close
somewhere like within three four five kilometer of range
(43:50):
then most of the time the walkie-talkie picked up but
later after i had an incident
in between where i got submerged
and then the walkie-talkie got damaged so
then after that we didn't use the walkie-talkie after that all right
so tell us about that incident so one big
challenge across the river was the man-made hurdles
(44:13):
you know fishermen setting up something
or the bridges the floating bridges
so these floating bridges are called pontoon
bridges the army bridges which uh you know the army makes
so they make it these are makeshift bridges they
just use it only during the post monsoon time
and before monsoon they just remove it so these
(44:35):
uh huge pontoons keeps floating in
the river and in the bridge also the
way they are anchored is all in a very you
know not in a very professional way so
it's all rope anchors crisscrossed so suddenly when you you you are in the current
and you keep coming and then these these bridges are not in the maps so you
(44:58):
don't know whether there is there is a bridge or not coming up in front of you
so there were a few two bridges and between these two pontoons.
The distance you can't have a good stroke.
So you have to make small strokes in between.
Pretty much you just have to float out. You don't have much,
you know, distance or width enough between two pontoons.
(45:22):
And at the entry and the exit, there are crisscrossed ropes which are used for
anchor, anchoring these pontoons.
So there was a situation where I got into, you know, a bridge where the anchoring
was not proper and the water flow was in an angled way.
(45:44):
So the water was just pushing against the pontoon because the pontoon was loose
and it was twisted in an angle opposite to the force of the flow.
So I got pinned in the pontoon as soon as I entered.
It was a heavy current and then got pinned in, sucked out like an undercut in a whitewater.
(46:05):
It was very difficult. That was one of the scariest moments because I can't even move my hands.
It was pinned like anything. thing then it took
me like almost 30 40 seconds to you know
come out of it pull my take my bring my
hand towards the spray deck and get out of it and
then i realized as soon as i got out of the
(46:26):
spray deck i was pushed out but my kayak still stuck there so somehow my one
of my finger got stuck in the kayak and then i could give a good strong shake
and it came out so it heavy currents I swam for almost a kilometer.
Then I got a good idea and then got into the kayak back.
(46:48):
Wow. All right. That was a scary moment.
It sounds scary. I'm glad you made that out. And certainly, you know,
having bridges that are anchored strangely, but just having bridges that are
not on a chart, it can be confusing, can be challenging.
Yes, it was. There were a lot. None of these bridges are in the chart.
Since they remove it during the monsoon, so most of the satellite imagery also
(47:12):
doesn't have these bridges in it. Okay.
And they keep changing the spots where they have kept the bridges.
It was little, that was one of the challenges which I was facing.
So that was so scary that after that, whenever I see this bridge,
my hands start shaking. My heart's pumping.
(47:34):
What would you say your greatest moment of joy was on the trip?
The greatest moment of joy was the last day.
I think I was having, that was the ultimate challenge.
The tide was against that because a
last 100 and 100 to 200 kilometers you
get tidal activity in the river so in
(47:57):
the last day on the mouth just before reaching the
island uh it was the tide was against the
wind was almost like 50 kilometer per hour speed gusting
in and the waves and swells at really
really really high swells and i
was paddling paddling paddling oh my god
that was one of the ultimate like i had wind before also
(48:19):
but in this open water you know the kind
of wind it will be so it was uh it
was scary very tiring it was a never-ending paddling and then finally when i
reached i could see a lot of people standing on the island just clueless who
is coming and what is happening here because they in their lifetime for the
(48:42):
first time they are seeing somebody crossing that channel.
With a paddle boat. They have only seen huge ships or motorboats crossing it.
So, you know, that moment of victory and humbleness and happiness,
you know, I don't know what all emotions came in that day when I touched that land.
(49:05):
Yeah, it must have been a wonderful experience. Very happy. Yes,
it was. It was. Very happy for you.
So happy. And then there was one more instance
when i was the pain in me
took over i was in a very bad
shape so much tired so much feeling so
much dizzy with the with the pain and tiredness
(49:27):
so i was not in a condition to even paddle
so my even taking one
stroke was difficult and i was in the middle of nowhere
and i called up my team whenever
i got the network and i told guys i don't think
i will be able to making i will make it
today probably i'll stop somewhere in
(49:48):
between wherever i get a good place and i rest out
i'm not able to paddle so then you know suddenly i it was headwinds and suddenly
it started tail and the water the boat itself started moving moving forward
and uh you know helping me That was something so miraculous.
(50:11):
Tears of joy came out of my eyes like I don't know what is happening because
it was all headwind and I was just paddling, paddling and kayak just hardly
moving forward because of the tiredness.
And then suddenly you get a strong tailwind and you're riding in.
Just sitting there and the kayak is moving forward. That was a moment of joy.
(50:31):
Yes, absolutely. The water helps you.
Yes. And after some time, I got some good currents also. And then I made it
to the destination which we pre-planned.
So that was a very happy day. Good. What's a big learning from the trip?
One of the biggest learning is humbleness and patience.
(50:54):
I think this expedition gave me patience and humbleness to a very different level.
And another biggest learning is never underestimate anything.
Because if I had gone without planning or without being prepared,
(51:14):
100% preparation, i think this expedition would
have been a failure and i would have
not even reached a halfway so i think
the biggest learning here is you know where whatever venture
you get into whatever smaller the big project you are going to do just just
prepare yourself 200 percent commit yourself you know so for me i i knew from
(51:38):
back of my mind where i'm going where should i reach today what What happens
if I don't reach this place?
Then what is my backup destination, backup location?
Every day, even though it was not according to my plans, but still I know this river very well.
I had read it, I had by-hearted it with the help of the maps and coordinates and other steps.
(52:01):
And then the last one month of preparation, last one month endurance training, that helped me a lot.
Because if I had not done that, probably I would have failed in the river.
But that helped me that got me
understanding what my my weakness my strength
what i can do what i cannot do so i
(52:21):
think that is something which i learned and i'm
very happy i did it well so i think
that is one and as a person i'm a
completely changed person i think even my team members would be saying the same
about themselves also but this expedition taught us a lot of humility because
we have seen kind of people working people different different people different
(52:46):
different cultures in this 95 days.
Where you you get to know that you are
nothing in this world you are no problem
in this world is big enough which you cannot handle it
because we have seen a lot of
different people you know facing different different situations every day in
(53:08):
terms of in in their in their whole life in their agriculture maybe in their
you know the kind of fishermen we have seen i i think humility or For humanity,
it's something which I learned another thing.
And there are a lot of learnings, but the biggest thing is one is never go underprepared to anything.
(53:28):
And patience and calmness, that is something big time I have learned.
Good. You're planning your process, your methodology, and the recognition of
when to be on the water and when not to be on the water were very important
things that made this a great success. That's wonderful. Absolutely. Yes.
(53:50):
Where can listeners connect with you? People can connect with me in my Instagram
page, which is grencythomas, g without space, R-E-N-C-Y-T-H-O-M-S,
grencythomas, Instagram.
And it's the same handle for Facebook also, or else my email ID,
which is rency at live360.in.
(54:15):
So rencyatlifetricity.in. All right. And tell us about Live360.
Live360 is the company which I operate.
I have my own small business now. We mostly do expeditions in Indian Himalayas.
We do a lot of rafting expeditions, climbing expeditions. We climb 6,000-7,000 meter peaks.
(54:40):
There are a lot of unclimbed, uncharted peaks still available in Himalayas.
We do explore those peaks and do climb those peaks. And then we have overlanding
expeditions in like Ladakh or Himachal Pradesh in Himalaya.
So we do motorbiking and 4x4 off-roading expeditions also. This is what we do in Live360.
(55:03):
Wonderful. Well, we'll put links to Live360 in the show notes as well as the contact information.
And I certainly appreciate the opportunity to talk with you here and learn more
about you and your expedition. edition.
I do have one final question for you and that is who else would you like to
hear as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?
I think John, one person I would really love to know is James Stevenson of Online Sea Kayaking.
(55:29):
I do follow their page, takes a lot of tips and tricks from there and I would
really like to learn more about them, what motivated them to start this page
and I think it's a wonderful page, wonderful work they are doing.
So that is something really love to hear from them, like what is the motivation
behind, how do they shoot all these amazing videos, you know,
(55:50):
the training videos, really cool ones.
Excellent. Love watching them. Yes, they do nice work and they've been a great
supporter of the show here as well.
We've actually had Simon on the show before and we'll reach out to James and get him on the show.
That would be great. I would love to hear from him. Good.
Rensi, thank you very much for the opportunity to learn from you,
(56:11):
to hear about your trip. This is a fantastic expedition.
Hearing about Ganga and your experience on that river and its significance in
the culture. So thank you very much for the opportunity.
Pleasure is all mine, John. I'm really happy, so happy, so happy and excited
to listen to this podcast once it gets published.
(56:34):
Thank you very much for having me. Really loved your conversation and it was
amazing. Thank you. Thank you. I enjoyed it as well.
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle
is packed with fitness guidance and complete descriptions, along with photos
of more than 50 exercises to improve your abilities and enjoy your time on the water.
The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,
(56:57):
and they can make a difference for you too.
The exercises in the book can help you reduce tension in your shoulders and
low back, use the power of your torso to create leverage and use less energy
with each stroke, use Use force generated from your lower body to make your
paddling strokes more efficient.
Have the endurance to handle long days in the boat. Drive through the toughest
waves or white water. Protect your body against common paddling injuries.
(57:19):
And while you're at it, you might even lose a few pounds. And who wouldn't mind
that? So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.
Rensi was our first Indian guest, and I appreciate him sharing his country's river with us.
I look forward to talking to more paddlers about this fascinating part of the globe.
Combine 2,750 kilometers with crocodiles, chronic arthritis,
(57:40):
mystery bridges, little to no aids to navigation or charts, more than little
pollution, and a committed paddler, and you've got the makings for a fine expedition.
Connect with Renzi and learn more about the trip by visiting the show notes
for this episode, number 122, at www.paddlingtheblue.com.
You'll also find all past episodes in their show notes, as well as links to
(58:02):
our great partners. Thanks to all who've clicked the buy me a coffee link on
our webpage at www.paddlingtheblue.com and thrown a few dollars our way to help
offset the cost of producing Paddling the Blue.
It's a real labor of love and I enjoy bringing these stories to you and your
help to cover the cost of hosting and production are greatly appreciated.
Thanks again to our partners at OnlineSeaKiking.com for extending a special offer to you.
(58:25):
Visit OnlineSeaKiking.com, enter the code PTBPODCAST at checkout out,
and you get 10% off just for being a member of the Paddling the Blue community.
Until next time, thanks again for listening. And as always, I look forward to
bringing you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling
the Blue on Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
(58:49):
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And you can find the show notes for this episode and other episodes,
along with replays of of past episodes, contact information,
and more at paddlingtheblue.com.
Until next time, I hope you get out and paddle the blue.
Music.
Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the
Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.
I'm your host. My name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.
Welcome to today's episode of Paddling the Blue. Ren C.
Thomas joins today's episode to recount his 2,750 kilometer solo source to sea
(00:23):
trip of India's Ganga River.
Starting at the foot of a glacier and ending at the ocean. This journey down
the most holy river in India using a mode of transportation rarely seen was
the culmination of eight years of preparation.
So we get the opportunity to hear firsthand from Rensi today about that trip.
We'll hear from Rensi in just a moment.
(00:43):
James and Simon at onlineseakyking.com continue to produce great content to
help you evolve as a paddler and as a coach.
You'll find everything from basic strokes and safety to paddling in tides, surfing,
coaching, coaching documentaries expedition skills and incident
management and more all in one place and if
you're not already a subscriber to online sea kayaking.com here
is your opportunity to get started visit online
(01:05):
sea kayaking.com use the coupon code ptb podcast at checkout and you'll get
10 off just for being a member of the paddling the blue community enjoy today's
episode with renci thomas hello renci how are you today great and thank you
very much for having me john you are You are welcome. So excited.
Yes, I am as well. This will be a great conversation about a really impressive
(01:28):
and really interesting expedition.
So we're here to talk about your Ganga. Did I get the pronunciation right?
Thank you. Yes, it's Ganga. Ganga. That's what we Indians call it.
All right. So we'll talk about that.
But first, let's talk a little bit about you and your adventure background.
You've got quite a varied adventure background. So what got you started in adventure sports?
(01:52):
So during my college final year time, I was always into, I have a,
you know, a connection towards adventure, but during my final year of college,
I got bedridden due to a chronic arthritis condition,
which stopped me from getting into Air Force, which was my ultimate aim to become an Air Force pilot.
(02:13):
So due to that condition, I couldn't continue my Air Force career.
I think then that's from where I
started doing my sports flying private flying like I got my private flying license
did some sports flying then I realized it's a pretty very expensive sport especially
in India it's not easy to continue flying slowly and gradually I got into other
(02:35):
sports like mountaineering started with mountaineering a lot of trekking rainforest trekking.
And then slowly got into river sports also so rafting was the first one and
thankfully I I started paddling in Ganga itself.
So I got some opportunity to work in whitewater sections of Ganga.
And that's how it all went on.
(02:56):
So I do a lot of adventures, mainly big expeditions, overlanding expeditions, rafting expeditions.
And mountaineering is one major thing which we keep on doing.
Okay. Now you mentioned sport flying in there, and that you have a private pilot's
license. What is sport flying?
So sports flying is mostly the small microlight aircrafts, which are flown mostly
(03:19):
for recreational purposes.
So initially, my initial stages of my career, we used to give microlight flying
experience so a person can sit on the co-pilot seat and experience flying like a joyride.
So we were providing this in the city called Bangalore in South India.
So that's how it started. Okay.
(03:41):
Interesting. Do you still do any of that? Rarely, but yes, I do.
I do fly, but not in a very serious way. Okay.
So you couldn't go to the Air Force career and go quite that high.
So you decided to get as high as you possibly could on Earth and mountaineering.
Yes, yes, that's how I started. So flying and then slowly got my mountaineering
(04:05):
certifications and got into a lot of trekking and slowly into climbing peaks.
We have a lot of 6,000, 7,000 meter peaks in India. So it's in Himalayas. It's never ending.
I think it's very difficult to climb all the peaks here in India.
Now with mountaineering being a passion of yours, why paddling?
(04:29):
So it was never a single sport which I was focused on.
I always wanted to get into outdoors, experience new sports,
learn new sports, get into it.
So I was into mountaineering and trekking and then I got the opportunity to
learn rafting when I was in the whitewater sections of Genga and slowly started with rafting,
(04:50):
learned a bit of rafting and then of course the kayaking bug got into and learned kayaking there.
And then I was in Hong Kong for some time working with Outward Bound Hong Kong.
That's where the sea kayaking started.
So there we did quite a lot of sea kayaking.
And that's where the, you know, I think the passion for sea kayaking also grew in.
(05:14):
And so I have to imagine that you're as you're on the mountain and you see a
river going back down the mountain the other way.
You're like, hey, maybe I can paddle that thing too. Yeah.
So you're rafting and whitewater and then that grew into sea kayak,
So I do both the paddling, but mostly I'm more comfortable in sea kayaks,
(05:36):
but I do whitewater kayaking too.
But yeah, now I feel more comfortable in long journeys in kayaks.
All right. Now you are the first Indian guest that we've had,
and we've rarely talked even about that part of the world in general.
So this is fascinating. We'll learn about a new part of the world here,
but is paddling common in India?
(05:57):
Very rare i would say it's a completely new
sport whitewater is picking up
whitewater there are great whitewater rivers in india
so whitewater kayaking is getting
better and better every year so we have some amazing.
Athletes from india who are doing really
good in whitewater sections but sea kayaking is still
(06:20):
i would say a very new thing
in india there are very few kayaks
available in india right now i think
the kind of uh if you ask me how much
paddling people does it will be rare like you can count
with your fingers like the people who are into sea
kayaking okay so it's very new in india all right
(06:40):
even though you've got a pretty long coast i
mean uh aside from the river itself which
your expedition was 2600 kilometers you've
got a long coast that is an ocean coast yes.
I i even i have i personally
come from the place called kanyakumari the southern peninsula tip
(07:01):
of the country so that's my hometown so even
though i am from a place which is my from
my home the ocean or the sea is
just around 15 kilometers away even then
until my college days i was new
to any kind of adventure sports so i
think it's not there in the culture i would i
(07:23):
think that's the major problem here and now people have getting the taste of
it so there are a lot of mountaineering and trekking happening in india indians
doing a lot of mountaineering and trekking and whitewater rafting is a big thing
here but people pursuing into outdoor sports and And getting expertise in sports.
(07:44):
Learning it and venturing out into outdoors on their own is still new for India.
So I think it's the cultural difference may take some more years for people
to understand the value of adventure or outdoors and, you know,
start getting into it in a very serious manner.
There are few people like me or many some great adventurers still in India.
(08:09):
Yeah, but it's all people, you know, very small bunch of people.
Majority of the people still look up to a conventional job and...
Go for some other recreation than outdoors okay yeah
you hear a lot of folks from outside india coming
to india for mountaineering and such but it
just you said it's not really grabbed on with the culture
(08:31):
there yet of people in india yes yes
so it's rarely done as a
recreational sport even there are a lot of guiding happening
in india especially in mountaineering and whitewater
sections but it's all mostly done as
a as a part of job or as a part of living you know a way of living okay finding
(08:54):
a you know a job source then doing it for with passion and love for the sport
so why do you suppose it has not crept into the the recreational pursuits of indian residents.
Again as i said it's uh it's 100
not there in the culture but now since the
(09:15):
young people have a lot of uh you know
extra income where they can get into these sports and and also the lack of awareness
it's still a developing country so people people are more into conventional
jobs and conventional things than getting into outdoors and knowing new sports.
(09:36):
So sports culture itself is a new thing in India and people are now coming into,
there are a lot of young people, young enthusiasts who are learning sports,
learning whitewater kayaking, learning surfing and learning other sports and coming into.
So probably in the near future, you can see a lot of people getting into recreational sports also.
(09:57):
That's great. Well, we'll look forward to hearing more from the Indian community,
but I'm really interested in hearing about the Ganga expedition that you've done.
So that expedition combined quite a few disciplines over its 2,600-kilometer
length. So tell us about the trip.
So it's because the whole river, it's a massive river.
(10:18):
It covers five states of India and a total of around 2,700.
So my GPS calculated 2,750, but that also includes some trekking and mountain biking sections also.
It's the river headwaters of the river starts at an altitude of 4,023 kilometers,
(10:42):
which is a really high altitude and it's not navigable there.
So the only way to reach the source is by hiking.
So we hiked up to the glacier. It's called Gomukh Glacier. That's where this headwater starts.
And the river is called Bhagiradi from where it starts.
So it's around 23 kilometers of hike
(11:02):
all the way down till the road that
called Gangotri the place called Gangotri
and from Gangotri till a place called Devprayag
again it's not navigable part it's through
mountain terrain and gorges whitewater
sections but steep whitewater sections are
not navigable again so or runnable so we i did a cycling all the way till dev
(11:29):
priyag and dev priyag is the place where this two river the headwater bhagirathi
and another river called alaknanda joins and it's the confluence it's also very holy for.
In indian culture so from that place the name comes in the ganga name comes
to the river so So from there, it's called Ganga. Till then,
(11:51):
it's called Bhagirathi River.
So and the confluence is really beautiful because the turquoise colored water
from the Bhagirathi joins or confluences with the murky waters of Alaknanda River.
And these two rivers joins and becomes Ganga. It becomes almost greenish color, beautiful.
(12:11):
And that's where the renewable whitewater section of Ganga starts.
So from there, I started whitewater kayaking.
All the way till the place called Haridwar which is again that's the end of
the white water section and from there the river touches the plains and it becomes
wide and divides into a lot of channels,
(12:33):
and from Haridwar all the way till
Gangasagar island that is where the last part
of the river it's the delta where
the river enters into the sea the mouth
of the river and till there I got on
the sea kayak and there are around five barrages
or the dams in between so i used a
(12:55):
cycle again to cross those dams and
again get on to the kayak okay crossing it all right and you said it was a total
of 2750 kilometers yes uh so the clock 2750 kilometers and a total of 95 days
to complete it 95 days well and then the and then the the sea kayak portion
(13:15):
was the 2600 kilometer kilometer.
Sea kayak was approximately around 2,000 kilometers.
Ah, okay. I heard that wrong. 2,200 kilometers, yeah. Okay.
Whitewater section was around 100 kilometers, and rest was the cycling and the
trekking part up in the mountains, yeah.
And in terms of the whitewater portion, what classification would you put that whitewater at?
(13:38):
I think it was all class 3, and there are two rapids which is nearly class 4+,
plus rest everything class three class two plus three
plus rapids all right and you ran this entire trip solo
yes so during the whitewater
section there were a few kayaking friends
who joined us joined me on the river okay during the whitewater section so but
(14:02):
after that whitewater kayaking uh the sea kayaking was 100 solo nobody in the
river okay it's a completely unexplored region and no navigational charts,
no idea which route to go.
So the whitewater section is pretty commercial route. So it's like our playground,
our home ground. But after that, the real challenge started.
(14:23):
Okay. Yeah. Having a few people with you increases that margin of safety, but interesting.
So no navigation charts on the trip and it braided off into different channels on that.
And did that get confusing for you? Oh, it was very confusing.
The biggest problem is the after every monsoon
the river completely changes its course so
(14:44):
even the gps data or the satellite imagery
doesn't help most of the satellite imagery which we get from
google earth or other apps are all pre-monsoon imagery so after the monsoon
the river is completely different so most of the time when even if i take reference
with the satellite imagery the the water will be on the place where in the map it shows as a land.
(15:10):
So yeah so it
was crazy and these channels are they are
it really in this flat plains especially in the
first uh around 400 500 kilometers
of the first section the river is too wide and it divides into multiple multiple
channels it's very difficult to understand what is which is the actual channel
(15:30):
because sometimes you just get into a false channel and suddenly it reaches a shallow end or a murky,
slushy area where you can't even potage your kayak, heavy kayak.
And that could be a long channel and you get down to the end and you're like, well, now what do I do?
Yes, yes. There has been many situations, but thankfully not much.
(15:52):
But there were situations where you don't even have enough water to paddle.
So your kayak just gets stuck. And then, as you know, when it gets shallow,
the water flow starts increasing.
Freezing so there is no way you to back
paddling and coming back so you have
to get out of the kayak and as soon as you get out that's when you understand
(16:14):
it's a knee-deep slush underneath oh then then you start pulling your kayak
all the way out and then again you start paddling okay eventually it reaches
to the main channel but once you get into those false channels it's very difficult.
Yeah. Some might say that, well, it's a river. You just follow it as it goes,
(16:34):
you know, follow it down river and follow the current, but that may not be the
case. So what time of year did you do your trip?
I did it. I started from Gomuk Glacier on 4th of November 2023 and finished on 6th of February 2024.
So it was winter sun time in India, peak winters. The reason for mainly for
(16:56):
the winters is the summers are going to be very hard, very harsh.
So that's not the right time to do this long expedition.
So I took winter as the right time because the water levels will be good apt
and the heat will be more bearable.
I think the cold is much more bearable than the heat. Okay.
(17:18):
Now what kind of temperatures are we dealing with? In the higher up mountains,
it was always below zero degree Celsius.
While hiking, we got snowfall also.
And coming down, it was soaring around 10 degree Celsius.
And once we come towards the sea, like maybe 500 kilometers before the sea,
(17:39):
it's temperate conditions like 15, 20 degree Celsius in the daytime. Okay.
All right. So when I think winter, it's much colder where I am.
Yes, yes, it is. All right. So you mentioned the cultural significance of the
river just a couple of times.
Tell us what the river means to the Indian culture.
(18:00):
So in Indian culture, most of the rivers in India are considered holy as per
Hindu mythology or Hindu culture.
And also the allied other religion like Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism also.
So all these Indian religions considered almost all the rivers and mountains as gods.
(18:25):
And in terms of holiness, the river Ganga is considered to be the most holiest river.
And also it's said that if you take a bath in this river,
you you all your sins are washed away
and you get salvation so it's
that holy and the significance of the
river because this river is mentioned in almost all
(18:47):
the old epics and all the scriptures in in in our culture so the river river
is even if you are from the south of southern part of the country or in the
northern part of the country in all your folklores in all your stories all your
gods, all your mythology,
river Ganga is going to come one or the other place.
(19:09):
And you mentioned that it's significant in terms of commerce and just living.
And being such a wide river, the whole Ganga Basin accommodates almost half
of India's vast population.
So it helps in a lot of irrigation.
So, the river plain, once it touches the plain, it goes through four major states
(19:36):
of India in which lots and lots of industries.
Agricultural area, all these are fed from this river.
So you will see most of these big cities, many cities like Kolkata,
Patna, then you have Banaras, the oldest city called Banaras or Varanasi and
(19:58):
then you have Kanpur and lot many cities or towns buzzes around on the banks of this river.
And all these towns and cities are mostly either industrially prominent or agriculturally prominent.
So across the river, throughout the river, while I was paddling,
I could see vast farmlands on both the sides.
(20:21):
So it's mostly the irrigation and also the drinking water comes from this river.
So it's very, very important in terms of commerce, life, agriculture,
industries, and also it is used for transport also.
So after crossing a particular area, almost half of the river,
then the river becomes a navigable channel.
(20:43):
So a lot of commerce also happens through this river.
And nearing to the sea, the Kolkata Harbor or the Diamond Harbor,
it's situated in the river. So it's on the mouth of the river.
So a lot of ships comes in and goes.
So in every way, this river is very prominent for India.
And with that size of a population living along the river and that much commerce
(21:06):
on the river, there's been a lot of talk that I've heard in the past about pollution
on the river. So tell us about that.
Uh i will never say there is no pollution pollution
is a reality there are and what
makes it worse is a lot of dams in between so you
know the more it gets polluted the river cannot
(21:26):
flush all all of it out also so the
pollution is increasing day by day but in
the year of 2015 i did this expedition in
motorboats so i was able to go
the same route in motorboats and
that time the pollution I would say was really bad
in terms of industrial pollution and other types of
(21:47):
pollution but this time going at a more slow
pace slowly paddling down I
realized things are getting better but the
plastic pollution has gone high so last time the
kind of plastic I had seen I would say more than
plastic it was industrial waste but this time it was plastic
plastic everywhere and it's there
(22:09):
i think that is one big pollutant which
we can see with our naked eyes and in terms
of wildlife also i think there is a drastic change in the river which which
is sad that the pollution of course it's because of the pollution that the wildlife
like kind of dolphins lot of turtles i could see a lot less than what i said
(22:33):
saw around eight years back. Okay.
Are there efforts underway to clean that up?
Lots of efforts are going on from the government side, but still I would say
it's not to the level it's required, but still it's better that there is something happening.
I think a lot of industries have been curbed, so unprocessed water is less now,
(22:59):
so they are treating the water before they are flushing it flushing it into
the river, at least from the big industries.
So I think there is a progress.
Let's hope the progress and the work becomes more efficient and fast.
Excellent. Well, yeah, let's hope so. Now you mentioned the width of the river.
How wide at its widest point?
(23:19):
So closer to the mouth, it was around 20 kilometers wide.
So up going towards it's on an average I would say in the plains the river was
around 5 to 6 kilometers wide. That's quite,
(23:42):
a distance. Yes it is. Alright. I would not have expected that.
Are there points where it narrows quite narrow?
Yeah. There are a few places where maybe the river seems like it's 2 kilometers
wide but then you realize the river is into two channels so so the one channel
is two kilometers and then you have an island in between the other channel is
(24:05):
on the other side it's again.
What was the reception from people in the towns as you were paddling the river?
People were very curious.
They find it very amazing to see somebody all alone in the river.
It was mixed emotions and many people considered me as a chosen one.
(24:29):
That was a very exhilarating experience because there were places where people came to worship me,
seeing a person coming through this river
for such a long distance is somebody who is really
a pious or a holy person so i had that kind of experiences then most of the
(24:50):
places people were overwhelmed seeing how are you able to do this how from where
do you get this courage because it's pretty new for them and they have never
seen somebody paddling all along in this river so So especially,
you know, paddling, mostly they see motorboats or people travel,
even the fishermen travel with mostly the motors fitted in it.
(25:12):
So paddling, it was where they were curious.
And also the most important thing was my kayak was a red kayak.
Long one. So they are seeing it for the first time in their life, a kayak like this.
So curious eyes always comes calling from the shores, you know,
please come here, come here.
We want to see your kayak. we want to see your boat so
(25:33):
it was always a curious thing people had
a lot of doubts questions it was not easy for us
to you know camp every day because every
time we camp we will have at least like 100
to 200 visitors from the villages coming in
in different times you know every time you have
at least 20-30 people asking curious questions most
(25:54):
of the time it's the same repetitive questions every day where are
you coming from how are you able to travel why are you doing this
all those questions but at the same time it's
it's also it was also an experience you know an
opportunity to understand them know their culture know their dialects know their
life and also understand what's going on around the river so the another fascinating
(26:17):
thing is in India so every maybe 100 kilometers down the river you see a completely
different culture and different dialect.
So even the language is different every time.
And the way they dress, the way they eat, it's all different.
Wow. And so how do you adapt to that as you move along to the expedition?
(26:39):
It was fascinating. And at the same time, I would say I would give the credit
to my backup team who was also traveling on the road while I was in the river.
So they used to most of the time, wherever possible, if you are able to meet,
they used to come and reach the shore before I reach.
(26:59):
And they used to manage the crowd and
people and make them understand what is going to happen what
is happening so the stress on me was almost very less when i used to come so
i think that helped otherwise it would have been really difficult because when
i am all alone after paddling for almost there were days where i paddled for
(27:20):
almost eight hours nine hours a day and then you come Come down,
get out, and then you are in a hurry to make a shelter or get some rest.
And that's when there's a lot of people comes in and starts asking questions.
They are curious and it's all very honest questions. So you don't feel like being rude.
(27:41):
So you keep on answering them, answering them. And there will be a certain time,
you know, you get really tired of it.
Yeah, but it must have been fascinating for both you just seeing all those different
cultures and experiencing all those folks.
I think that was one thing which kept me moving because by the time I finished
50 days, it was very difficult for me.
(28:01):
It was mentally, physically, it was very difficult.
And also we had one more challenge was the funds because to make people understand
this kind of expedition and get some sponsorship was very difficult for me.
So it was pretty much supported mostly by my friends,
friends family or known people and and
(28:21):
almost all the savings which i had so there
were situations where we had some fund issues or
or the funds which were supposed to come which didn't
come so almost like half of the after 50 days
it was there were days where i was not able
to move and also the arthritis pain really kicked
in so there were times when i used to
(28:43):
cry sitting in the kayak paddling because i can stop paddling as
i will lose the pace so i keep paddling paddling
paddling and keep crying at the
same time with the pain so uh but
i think this this fascination these people you know when there is a low day
then then you get some enthusiastic people coming and motivating us telling
(29:06):
you know you are doing great we are so proud of you and we can't believe that
this is this is something, somebody's doing this.
So these kind of words, these kind of motivation kept us moving forward one day after day.
So the arthritis, you started mentioning that and about how that affected you.
Tell us how that affected you throughout the whole trip.
(29:27):
And how you manage that? So I thought I'll be able to manage it with my regular
medicines in the starting.
But slowly going forward, it was really hurting because sitting,
I usually don't get out of the kayak during the trip because there were two reasons.
One is you rarely get a good place to get out in the river because most of the
(29:52):
time the banks are all slushy and watery and a lot of people around.
So i try to be almost in the middle
of the river and try to get the current and keep moving and
the other thing is the crocodiles no well get some
deserted area then you know you you never know what is lurking under those murky
(30:12):
waters so so that that was scary so i even i have a pee bottle in my kayak and
so i i try not to get out of the kayak most of the day so it's a continuous six to
seven hours of sitting or paddling in the river so
that was very difficult my i had
(30:32):
swellings almost all my fingers my right hand two fingers got deformations and
very severe swellings so i had to paddle with only two fingers and my thumb
i had to keep my two fingers out so if you had seen few of my photos at instagram
you will notice my i'm holding the paddle right hand.
(30:52):
With two fingers uh you know opened up okay
so it was it was very painful and sometimes you can't even do one stroke it's
that painful but then some kind of an energy is always there telling you to
push keep moving keep moving and then i make some small strokes and then after
some time you still feel good and you keep paddling.
(31:16):
You just persevere. You continue through. Continue through.
Yes, it was. And the other challenge was getting out.
So after sitting for one or two hours in the kayak with this condition,
when you get out, it's too painful.
The stiffness is too high in the thighs and the legs.
So balancing was very difficult when you get out of the kayak.
(31:38):
So that was something which I was finding very challenging. It takes me some
time to get out of those pain and get my legs normal.
As you know, while paddling, of course, you get numb.
But numbness with the pain was a little too much.
So are there special exercises or stretches or anything that you did while you were off the water?
(32:01):
Yes, yes. So before starting paddling, I make sure I'm stretching,
I'm warming up before paddling.
And after coming back again i i
made sure uh you know i'm stretching and paddling uh
doing some good exercises warming up i
think that kept moving and i usually get good rest
in the night and mornings again you feel fresh
(32:22):
but as soon as you start paddling the pain
starts kicking kicking in but uh the other
the other thing which helped was the nutrition you know
the food we always made sure we are
we were cooking on our own never used any food
from outside so i think that also helped us
a lot because as you know the water quality or
(32:44):
the food quality may not be good almost everywhere across so i think that really
helped none of us or i never got any sickness or any kind of issues other than
this arthriticity so the only issue which i had to fight with was It was only the pain.
Everything was taken care of well. All right. Well, that's certainly a significant issue still.
(33:08):
Um time time off the water or time on
the water and off the water i guess so you mentioned that you would paddle
six to eight hours a day is that right yeah so there were days where i paddled
like eight hours nine hours but on an average it was of six hours if i would
say average time because as winters closed in in the plains you will get very
(33:30):
heavy fogs okay so the visibility was very
bad and getting into those waters with low
with nil visibility and especially big
boats coming in and going that was very scary so
my after like for 30-40 days
I was losing a lot of good time in
the morning waiting for the fog to clear up so I
(33:53):
think I think that was one big challenge we were facing
across until we reached closer to
the ocean so yeah so the timing the
paddling time kept on varying sometimes when if i have a clear day then i keep
on pushing and then if uh it's foggy then wait till the fogs clear up and evening
also the uh it gets foggy early so i have to bank fast and you also had a policy
(34:18):
within your team of getting off the water early.
Yes so we had a cut off time of four o'clock because uh during winters it gets
dark by around around 5, 5.30 in India.
So our cutoff time was four o'clock, but I would say I think that cutoff time
really helped us to plan properly and get off the water before it gets dark.
(34:42):
So I think there were only three or four days where I had to paddle in slight darkness.
Otherwise, every day we used to get out of the water before the dark,
keeping the safety in place, yeah.
And of the 95 days, how many days did you have to take off, if any?
(35:02):
I think, yes, yes, we did take off for approximately 15 days, 16 days in total.
In that, I think six to seven days was due to very bad weather conditions.
We had to wait. Either it's too windy or it's too foggy that you're sitting,
you're getting ready, ready your kayak near
(35:23):
the river and you're sitting all geared up and
waiting waiting for the fog to clear up so that
was days and there were days when it was too rainy and
windy so one or two days so it took us like 16 days we had off okay so and then
we had single you know rest days after like 10 days or 11 days of continuous
(35:47):
paddling so it was 16 days where like we didn't do any activity And did you
camp most of the way or have other places to stay?
Yes. So except in the big cities where we don't get a campsite because it's
too populated and crowded and it's not, you know, clean or safe to camp.
(36:08):
Those places we took Airbnbs, but rest every places it was all camping.
Okay. So I would say 95 days, maybe 85, 88, 89, 80 days, above 80 days,
it was all camping, camping.
All right. And again, with the cities and with the population that lives along
the river, did you find large areas where it was unpopulated?
(36:33):
I think for me, in the river, it was a lot of plain areas with unpopulated region
because it's mostly the farmland or the forest land, which I see.
But the people, the backup team coming from the road, for them,
there is always a village just before the river.
So I can't say it's an unpopulated region.
(36:56):
It's pretty much everywhere it's populated and densely populated.
So we also had a policy for the safety. We always camp whenever we are meeting.
We camp near a village. so so so that
when the backup team comes towards the river
they get to meet the villagers or the senior people members
(37:18):
in the village and get their permission and so
that they know that we are camping here so because that
was important because i have heard about a lot of uh you know untoward instances
happening uh in the previous expeditions people who have died so i think this
helped us to be safe and we had zero incident or we were 100% safe throughout
(37:41):
the expedition because of that.
Okay. Now you just mentioned something in there that I'm curious about.
You mentioned other expeditions that have tried.
Is yours the first known expedition to complete source to sea?
Yes yes that was mine so but there were people so
the first person to complete the whole
expedition solo kayaking it's
(38:02):
me but there have been people have tried
before also but they were either robbed or they couldn't complete or they had
some logistical issues in between there have been instances where people couldn't
complete even 10-15 days and they have to go back So I have heard about all
those instances before.
(38:22):
So I did my own good research and we could understand then what went wrong in most of the places.
Most of the time it was wrong gears or under preparation. They took the river very lightly.
All right. And the water will always win. So you have to respect it. Yeah.
Correct. You mentioned your backup team. Tell us about your backup team.
(38:45):
So it was three people in
total in a vehicle so one of
my friend Yograj who is again from
mountain village he himself is an
outdoor person we climb a lot together and did a few expeditions together so
he was taking care of the logistics and my wife she's an artist so she was there
(39:07):
in the backup she was the person who was documenting the whole expedition she was the only girl in the
team so she was she was taking care of all kinds of permissions you know pr
and and mostly documenting the expedition so we are planning to release a documentary
also so she did the whole shooting part.
(39:30):
And then I had another friend who is again from Ladakh, again,
a mountain town up in the north, northernmost part of the country.
So he was there taking care of the navigation and other parts.
So he was there for almost two months.
Then he had to go back for some work. Then another river friend,
(39:50):
who is also a rafter and paddler, he joined us for the last one and a half months. Okay.
So other than those small whitewater sections that you did with others to increase
that margin of safety, the rest of the actual expedition itself was solo and
then your backup team supported you once you got off the water?
Yes, yes, yes. That was the backup team. So there were days where we couldn't
(40:12):
meet the backup team because most of the places, the road, so it's the vast
floodplains, which is all sandy or slushy where the vehicle or the people cannot reach.
So there were times where we couldn't meet, but I always had my own shelter,
emergency ration and so that I can be independent at least for three, four days easily.
(40:33):
So everything was there in the kayak always. So even if we are not able to meet, I'm good.
But we were able to meet most of the places most of the time.
But there were situations where, you know, they have to come all the way,
like, I don't know, walk for almost one kilometer towards the river,
then carry the kayak back and camp.
And then next day again, you know, partake the kayak and put it back in the same spot.
(40:57):
All right. So, yeah. So you're always making sure you're starting from start
or ending and starting at the same place.
Yes, yes, yes. Good. There had to be a lot of logistics that go into planning
something like this. How do you plan a trip like this?
It took me almost eight years. The first expedition which we did in the motorboats,
it was two motorboats and like around 10, 15 people.
(41:21):
So during that expedition, I had a pretty good idea about the terrain for the
kayak, you know, the route, everything.
Still it took me eight years of planning and you
know preparing myself before i got into because
you have to since there is no navigation available there is no map or no previous
(41:42):
history available so it's very difficult it was like going into an uncharted
terrain you know especially planning your campsites for example you are on the
right bank and then there is no way you can go to the
left bank and and then for next 100 or 200
kilometers there is no camping spot on the right
bank so if the backup team has to reach you then you
(42:04):
they have to come to the left bank and there is no bridge across so
you know there were a lot of complicated logistics which
we had to plan so it took me a lot of
time using maps charts planning every day
day by day each day how it so initially the
plan was to complete it in 100 days so i
had a 100 day plan with me but we overshoot
(42:27):
and we did it in a much faster way time but the
planning really took a toll and there were a lot
of things which didn't go with as per the plan but but i think planning and
preparation is very important and for me doing such a long expedition or paddling
for such a long time i have done with my friends but not alone anytime so that
(42:47):
was the biggest challenge for that i I did a one-month training, endurance training.
I went to backwaters in the southern part of the country.
Every day, I used to paddle for six, seven hours all alone and see how much
I can go, how much faster I can go, how my kayak performs, how I perform.
Am I able to paddle for such a long time all alone or not?
(43:09):
So before the expedition, one month, I dedicatedly spent for training myself.
How did you keep in touch with your backup team?
I had a walkie-talkie, which had a pretty good range of around 6-7 kilometers coverage.
But higher than that, we are not permitted to use as civilians in India.
(43:30):
So we can't use satellite phones also in India. It's completely banned.
So the only way of communication was mobile communication, which was sketchy in many places.
But still, we managed. But mostly the communication was with the mobile phones.
And while if we are close
somewhere like within three four five kilometer of range
(43:50):
then most of the time the walkie-talkie picked up but
later after i had an incident
in between where i got submerged
and then the walkie-talkie got damaged so
then after that we didn't use the walkie-talkie after that all right
so tell us about that incident so one big
challenge across the river was the man-made hurdles
(44:13):
you know fishermen setting up something
or the bridges the floating bridges
so these floating bridges are called pontoon
bridges the army bridges which uh you know the army makes
so they make it these are makeshift bridges they
just use it only during the post monsoon time
and before monsoon they just remove it so these
(44:35):
uh huge pontoons keeps floating in
the river and in the bridge also the
way they are anchored is all in a very you
know not in a very professional way so
it's all rope anchors crisscrossed so suddenly when you you you are in the current
and you keep coming and then these these bridges are not in the maps so you
(44:58):
don't know whether there is there is a bridge or not coming up in front of you
so there were a few two bridges and between these two pontoons.
The distance you can't have a good stroke.
So you have to make small strokes in between.
Pretty much you just have to float out. You don't have much,
you know, distance or width enough between two pontoons.
(45:22):
And at the entry and the exit, there are crisscrossed ropes which are used for
anchor, anchoring these pontoons.
So there was a situation where I got into, you know, a bridge where the anchoring
was not proper and the water flow was in an angled way.
(45:44):
So the water was just pushing against the pontoon because the pontoon was loose
and it was twisted in an angle opposite to the force of the flow.
So I got pinned in the pontoon as soon as I entered.
It was a heavy current and then got pinned in, sucked out like an undercut in a whitewater.
(46:05):
It was very difficult. That was one of the scariest moments because I can't even move my hands.
It was pinned like anything. thing then it took
me like almost 30 40 seconds to you know
come out of it pull my take my bring my
hand towards the spray deck and get out of it and
then i realized as soon as i got out of the
(46:26):
spray deck i was pushed out but my kayak still stuck there so somehow my one
of my finger got stuck in the kayak and then i could give a good strong shake
and it came out so it heavy currents I swam for almost a kilometer.
Then I got a good idea and then got into the kayak back.
(46:48):
Wow. All right. That was a scary moment.
It sounds scary. I'm glad you made that out. And certainly, you know,
having bridges that are anchored strangely, but just having bridges that are
not on a chart, it can be confusing, can be challenging.
Yes, it was. There were a lot. None of these bridges are in the chart.
Since they remove it during the monsoon, so most of the satellite imagery also
(47:12):
doesn't have these bridges in it. Okay.
And they keep changing the spots where they have kept the bridges.
It was little, that was one of the challenges which I was facing.
So that was so scary that after that, whenever I see this bridge,
my hands start shaking. My heart's pumping.
(47:34):
What would you say your greatest moment of joy was on the trip?
The greatest moment of joy was the last day.
I think I was having, that was the ultimate challenge.
The tide was against that because a
last 100 and 100 to 200 kilometers you
get tidal activity in the river so in
(47:57):
the last day on the mouth just before reaching the
island uh it was the tide was against the
wind was almost like 50 kilometer per hour speed gusting
in and the waves and swells at really
really really high swells and i
was paddling paddling paddling oh my god
that was one of the ultimate like i had wind before also
(48:19):
but in this open water you know the kind
of wind it will be so it was uh it
was scary very tiring it was a never-ending paddling and then finally when i
reached i could see a lot of people standing on the island just clueless who
is coming and what is happening here because they in their lifetime for the
(48:42):
first time they are seeing somebody crossing that channel.
With a paddle boat. They have only seen huge ships or motorboats crossing it.
So, you know, that moment of victory and humbleness and happiness,
you know, I don't know what all emotions came in that day when I touched that land.
(49:05):
Yeah, it must have been a wonderful experience. Very happy. Yes,
it was. It was. Very happy for you.
So happy. And then there was one more instance
when i was the pain in me
took over i was in a very bad
shape so much tired so much feeling so
much dizzy with the with the pain and tiredness
(49:27):
so i was not in a condition to even paddle
so my even taking one
stroke was difficult and i was in the middle of nowhere
and i called up my team whenever
i got the network and i told guys i don't think
i will be able to making i will make it
today probably i'll stop somewhere in
(49:48):
between wherever i get a good place and i rest out
i'm not able to paddle so then you know suddenly i it was headwinds and suddenly
it started tail and the water the boat itself started moving moving forward
and uh you know helping me That was something so miraculous.
(50:11):
Tears of joy came out of my eyes like I don't know what is happening because
it was all headwind and I was just paddling, paddling and kayak just hardly
moving forward because of the tiredness.
And then suddenly you get a strong tailwind and you're riding in.
Just sitting there and the kayak is moving forward. That was a moment of joy.
(50:31):
Yes, absolutely. The water helps you.
Yes. And after some time, I got some good currents also. And then I made it
to the destination which we pre-planned.
So that was a very happy day. Good. What's a big learning from the trip?
One of the biggest learning is humbleness and patience.
(50:54):
I think this expedition gave me patience and humbleness to a very different level.
And another biggest learning is never underestimate anything.
Because if I had gone without planning or without being prepared,
(51:14):
100% preparation, i think this expedition would
have been a failure and i would have
not even reached a halfway so i think
the biggest learning here is you know where whatever venture
you get into whatever smaller the big project you are going to do just just
prepare yourself 200 percent commit yourself you know so for me i i knew from
(51:38):
back of my mind where i'm going where should i reach today what What happens
if I don't reach this place?
Then what is my backup destination, backup location?
Every day, even though it was not according to my plans, but still I know this river very well.
I had read it, I had by-hearted it with the help of the maps and coordinates and other steps.
(52:01):
And then the last one month of preparation, last one month endurance training, that helped me a lot.
Because if I had not done that, probably I would have failed in the river.
But that helped me that got me
understanding what my my weakness my strength
what i can do what i cannot do so i
(52:21):
think that is something which i learned and i'm
very happy i did it well so i think
that is one and as a person i'm a
completely changed person i think even my team members would be saying the same
about themselves also but this expedition taught us a lot of humility because
we have seen kind of people working people different different people different
(52:46):
different cultures in this 95 days.
Where you you get to know that you are
nothing in this world you are no problem
in this world is big enough which you cannot handle it
because we have seen a lot of
different people you know facing different different situations every day in
(53:08):
terms of in in their in their whole life in their agriculture maybe in their
you know the kind of fishermen we have seen i i think humility or For humanity,
it's something which I learned another thing.
And there are a lot of learnings, but the biggest thing is one is never go underprepared to anything.
(53:28):
And patience and calmness, that is something big time I have learned.
Good. You're planning your process, your methodology, and the recognition of
when to be on the water and when not to be on the water were very important
things that made this a great success. That's wonderful. Absolutely. Yes.
(53:50):
Where can listeners connect with you? People can connect with me in my Instagram
page, which is grencythomas, g without space, R-E-N-C-Y-T-H-O-M-S,
grencythomas, Instagram.
And it's the same handle for Facebook also, or else my email ID,
which is rency at live360.in.
(54:15):
So rencyatlifetricity.in. All right. And tell us about Live360.
Live360 is the company which I operate.
I have my own small business now. We mostly do expeditions in Indian Himalayas.
We do a lot of rafting expeditions, climbing expeditions. We climb 6,000-7,000 meter peaks.
(54:40):
There are a lot of unclimbed, uncharted peaks still available in Himalayas.
We do explore those peaks and do climb those peaks. And then we have overlanding
expeditions in like Ladakh or Himachal Pradesh in Himalaya.
So we do motorbiking and 4x4 off-roading expeditions also. This is what we do in Live360.
(55:03):
Wonderful. Well, we'll put links to Live360 in the show notes as well as the contact information.
And I certainly appreciate the opportunity to talk with you here and learn more
about you and your expedition. edition.
I do have one final question for you and that is who else would you like to
hear as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?
I think John, one person I would really love to know is James Stevenson of Online Sea Kayaking.
(55:29):
I do follow their page, takes a lot of tips and tricks from there and I would
really like to learn more about them, what motivated them to start this page
and I think it's a wonderful page, wonderful work they are doing.
So that is something really love to hear from them, like what is the motivation
behind, how do they shoot all these amazing videos, you know,
(55:50):
the training videos, really cool ones.
Excellent. Love watching them. Yes, they do nice work and they've been a great
supporter of the show here as well.
We've actually had Simon on the show before and we'll reach out to James and get him on the show.
That would be great. I would love to hear from him. Good.
Rensi, thank you very much for the opportunity to learn from you,
(56:11):
to hear about your trip. This is a fantastic expedition.
Hearing about Ganga and your experience on that river and its significance in
the culture. So thank you very much for the opportunity.
Pleasure is all mine, John. I'm really happy, so happy, so happy and excited
to listen to this podcast once it gets published.
(56:34):
Thank you very much for having me. Really loved your conversation and it was
amazing. Thank you. Thank you. I enjoyed it as well.
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle
is packed with fitness guidance and complete descriptions, along with photos
of more than 50 exercises to improve your abilities and enjoy your time on the water.
The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,
(56:57):
and they can make a difference for you too.
The exercises in the book can help you reduce tension in your shoulders and
low back, use the power of your torso to create leverage and use less energy
with each stroke, use Use force generated from your lower body to make your
paddling strokes more efficient.
Have the endurance to handle long days in the boat. Drive through the toughest
waves or white water. Protect your body against common paddling injuries.
(57:19):
And while you're at it, you might even lose a few pounds. And who wouldn't mind
that? So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.
Rensi was our first Indian guest, and I appreciate him sharing his country's river with us.
I look forward to talking to more paddlers about this fascinating part of the globe.
Combine 2,750 kilometers with crocodiles, chronic arthritis,
(57:40):
mystery bridges, little to no aids to navigation or charts, more than little
pollution, and a committed paddler, and you've got the makings for a fine expedition.
Connect with Renzi and learn more about the trip by visiting the show notes
for this episode, number 122, at www.paddlingtheblue.com.
You'll also find all past episodes in their show notes, as well as links to
(58:02):
our great partners. Thanks to all who've clicked the buy me a coffee link on
our webpage at www.paddlingtheblue.com and thrown a few dollars our way to help
offset the cost of producing Paddling the Blue.
It's a real labor of love and I enjoy bringing these stories to you and your
help to cover the cost of hosting and production are greatly appreciated.
Thanks again to our partners at OnlineSeaKiking.com for extending a special offer to you.
(58:25):
Visit OnlineSeaKiking.com, enter the code PTBPODCAST at checkout out,
and you get 10% off just for being a member of the Paddling the Blue community.
Until next time, thanks again for listening. And as always, I look forward to
bringing you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling
the Blue on Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
(58:49):
Please take the time to leave us a five-star review on Apple Music.
We truly appreciate the support.
And you can find the show notes for this episode and other episodes,
along with replays of of past episodes, contact information,
and more at paddlingtheblue.com.
Until next time, I hope you get out and paddle the blue.
Music.
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