Northern Sojourn: Day 3

We got off the train at Haridwar, amidst dense fog and intense cold. We got out of the station, knowing only the address of our Hotel in Shivpuri and nothing else.
Little did we know that this was going to be the most eventful day of our journey.
On our way to the Guest house in Shivpuri, we stopped by at the local water sports co-ordinator and booked ourselves a raft ride down the Ganges.
Off to the hotel, a quick change later, our jeep picked us up and took us to the starting spot for our raft ride.
Several Patelshots later, me, Niranjan and Kunal who were lagging behind the gang geared up for the ride.
Nippa was the first one to get himself geared up. Being afraid of water, he was particularly pleased that we were wearing life-jackets. This was when inspiration struck Arvind. For the first tie in his life, he managed to pull off a "Chance pe Dance". On seeing Nippa's happy face, he said, "Karkare was also looking like this wearing a life-jacket, before he came back dead."
(R.I.P Officer Hemant Karkare, no offense meant)
We all were amazed and aghast at the sudeen brilliance of this quip. Soon after a quick brief, we were on the raft. Several rapids later, (rapids which were a better experience than any roller coaster you may find) we reached the cliff jumping spot.
Yash, Arvind, Niranjan and Prateek signed up for the jump and successfully jumped from a height of 25 ft into the Ganga. All Guts, all Glory.
Soon we reached the end of our raft ride at Ram Jhula. Prateek and me found a treasure trove of knowledge at Ram Jhula in the form of "The Divine Life Society's Publicatons", where we picked up a number of great books.
Back to the Guest House it was. After having our baths, we realised that it utrned dark pretty soon in this part of the country. At 7.15, we trudged along searching a restaurant/dhaba where we could get something to eat. We did manage to find one after several trips across the bridge.
Many of us had egg-plant for the first time in our lives. But it was worth it. Nippa showed his negotiation skills again when he managed to obtain a bottle of Contessa XXX rum. Back to the hotel, with 3 bottles of Thums Up.
Nippa fixed us all a small each. And after downing our pegs, we all went to sleep.
Aah. sleep. The guest house attendant had provided us each with a blanket.
The blanket. It was love at first sight for me. Me and my blanket. It was so warm and so cozy when I crept into bed with my blanket. It was the best night I had for ages. I wanted to take the blanket back with me. This blanket was my love. And in her arms, I fell asleep.