Spice of Life: Falling in love with the ebb & flow of the majestic ‘Ravi’
As a child, I spent evenings by the side of Ravi, which without words taught us valuable lessons underlining the importance of consistency and continuity in one’s life no matter how tough the path and how rough the weather was
A caption reading “Ravi’s Home” deluged my heart with bygone memories as my eyes scanned pictures posted by my friend on Facebook of the scenic Bara Bhangal village in Kangra, from where river Ravi originates.
Cool, calm and clear waters of the perennial Ravi are as pure and sacred as the holy Ganga to inhabitants of the Chamba valley. The river has been their primary lifeline since time immemorial. The strategic location of our home on a hilly spur in Chamba town, where I spent the initial years of my childhood, offered a pleasant bird’s eye view of Ravi that meandered zigzag through the heart of a deep gorge partially screened by a cluster of tall stately deodar trees.
Large rocky boulders scattered irregularly all about its long-winded bank line were our random hide-and-seek spots. I genuinely treasure one of my childhood pictures capturing an airborne moment as I performed a dive from a boulder against the frame-hold background of a “paused” Ravi. Online surfing might make netizens get a superficial impression of how this mighty river looks, but only privileged Pahadi denizens know what pleasure one derives in purposely numbing their hands and feet in its bone-chilling waters during summers. Winters saw our delightful exercise turn into challenging dares for touching the same water even with our fingertips froze our blood. Therefore, our peer group switched to gazing at its choppy surface bathed in golden hues of the sun setting behind sky-high Pir Panjal peaks.
Those were good learning evenings when Ravi without words taught us valuable lessons underlining the importance of consistency and continuity in one’s life no matter how tough the path and how rough the weather was.
Keeping the town abuzz with bubbling fervour round-the-year, its mellow music was soulful musing to compel local writers to weave their lyrics in tune to its mercurial moods and mesmerising manoeuvres. A folk song testifies Chamba town tucked between Ravi and its tributary Sahal in “Chamba do nadiyan vichkaar, ek Ravi te duji Sahal (Chamba is nestled between two rivers, Ravi and Sahal”. During heavy rains, overflowing storm-tossed Ravi took up the monstrous form. Foaming with silt, mud and sediments, it proceeded vigorously and violently in dark opaque brown colour. Its turbulent temper persuaded some lyricists to pen in Himachali dialect, “Sayein Sayein matt karr Raviye, Minjo tera bada darr lagda (Ravi’s hissing sound frightens me)”.
My mind as a kid misconceived the size and reach of the Ravi to limited swathes of area which my tiny naked eyes could scan. Having grown up and delved deeper into geography books helped me learn; after saturating Chamba valley, it entered Jammu and Kashmir to meet Chenab and further Indus in Pakistan before draining into the Arabian Sea. Call it our naïve innocence, but once, I and my school friend sent a paper boat scribbled with good-will messages of harmony, brotherhood and peace with a childish hope that it would sail all the way across the Pakistani border and reach the hands of their political masters. In seconds, with our paper boat vanishing from the scene in gushing stream, my friend sanely remarked how we wouldn’t receive our enemy’s reply along the same waterway route as Ravi only flowed forwards; inviting a loud hearty laughter on my face.
Ever since our base shifted to the plains, a lot of water must have flown under the old Sheetla suspension bridge. However, my recollections are still too vivid vis-a-vis Ravi. They have withstood the test of time spanning generations, fanning inspirations plus quenching the thirst of countless wayfarers for ages. My feverish fascination with Ravi will end only the day it begins flowing backwards to its icy glacial bed to start all over again on another course!
unsharma3116@gmail.com
(The writer is a freelance contributor based in Una.)