Episode 103: Tires and Tubing fun
Hello Everyone, and welcome to the podcast of the Ordinary Maverick. This is Ajey, your host, an ordinary Maverick sharing real life thoughts and experiences and Maverick tips. If you haven’t hit the subscribe button yet, please do so, and you’ll not miss another episode.
Well I am back in Seattle, after some heavy work related travel in India, meeting special friends and family and gorging on some of my favorite delicacies up there. A memorable trip indeed.
May I invite you’ll to close your eyes just for a moment and picture this scene. The flowing water, beautiful greenery all around, blue skies overhead, surrounded by the chirping of birds, beautiful, right? Well, let’s go a bit further, imagine yourself sitting in a tube and just flowing down the river, using your hands to guide the tube. It’s fun and of course even more fun when the river flows down rocks creating small rapids and your tube just spins in the water and flows down the rocks as you lift your legs to keep the tube going and just enjoy the ride down the river.
Ha ha…sounds like a lot of fun, right? And it is…we did river tubing in South Africa some years back. This was in the Tsitsikamma forests down the Storms River Gorge. There were these big one person inflatable river tubes that take you on this fascinating journey through Tsitsikamma. It took us close to 3 hours and we were literally floating amidst unique scenery, on the river going into unexplored sections of the forest…where only the river flows. We wondered of course why it was called black water tubing…the water was dark, yes, but not black. But I guess it’s because one is quite close to the rocks, and the water flowing looks quite dark.
If you’ve never done this before, then do try it when you get a chance next, it’s loads of fun..but one needs to keep your legs extended and bums up, otherwise, you’ll hit the rocks below and that can be painful …ha ha. Once you get the hang of it, then navigating small rapids down the river with the tube is real fun.
One can also turn and get into the water and have a quick swim if needed and then get back on the tube. It’s an activity for all ages and fun to do as a family. And a fun way to see the interiors of the forest continually moving along the water.
Of course, I have to admit, I discovered muscles I never knew existed that night …with aches and pains all over. But it was totally worth it. We had great fun as a family and created some beautiful memories.
Speaking of river tubing, I recall the time we did snow tubing. Now that’s super fun too. It’s another sight to be seen. Everyone walking up the hill or getting onto the lift with a tube or a black tire in their hands…getting to the top, positioning themselves and then hurtling down the slide in full speed on the snow and getting to the bottom. As you go down on the tube, you realize there is nothing you can do to control it, once it starts down the slope, that’s it…you just let go and enjoy the ride as the tube makes its way down the slope.
We’ve done quite a bit of this snow tubing over the years, mostly in the US during our winter trips. One can do it single, meaning each person comes down their own tube, or doubles, two tubes kind of joined together, like the number eight and then you go down together. Or there are these big tubes that 6 or 8 people can sit together and then all go down together. Yes, that’s something. we did it with family, 8 of us and gosh, what super fun. The tube felt out of control and we were spinning around and enjoying ourselves going down the snow slide.
And then you have water tubing. Again lots of fun. We did this in South Africa where one sits in the tube which is hooked onto a speed boat that then revs up in the water and you’re pulled along in the tube. This is known as towed tubing. And the earlier ones we spoke about were free floating tubing where the tubes are not tethered to anything.
There’s a another kind of tubing called kite tubing. This is when tubes that are being towed on water reach high speeds and take flight in the air. The body of the tube acts as an airfoil and creates a lift. And the tube becomes a kite. I haven’t done this yet but it sounds interesting but also quite dangerous. As at some point the ‘kite tube’ will get back to the water and then depending on the speed and impact, one can get hurt while getting back on the water. It seems this is the most dangerous type of tubing and efforts are being made to make this safer for the rider.
So how did all this start? Using tires and tubes for fun…called as recreation tubing. It's interesting to note that as the automobile and transport industry grew, so did recreation tubing. Well for one thing, guess there were more tires available. But looking at the history of tubing, there are several stories of origin. One speaks about Thailand’s princess Chumbhot of Nagar Svarga as ‘inventor of the sport of tubing’. The story goes that the Princess had brought about 100 tubes to her country estate in 1966 and invited her friends and neighbours to ride them down the river. Then another story goes that tubing was invented on the Black river in Missouri by Jan and Harriet Wright sometime in the middle of the 20th century as the popularization of the automobile industry meant there was a large supply of rubber inner tubes available.
But apart from the surplus supply, here is where the innovative spirit and ingenuity of the human mind comes through. How one is able to create and think and come up with new ideas and creations.
I mean, I recall seeing tires hung up on trees and used as swings in backyards. It’s amazing to see how the innovative spirit strikes, right? I mean, tires are meant for something but then are also serving this recreation purpose.
In fact, tires are very versatile. They are used for various purposes. I’ve seen them being used as plant holders, as table bases, as converted seating arrangements, as dog beds, as storage when stacked up. I’ve also seen them being used as mirror frames. See…lots of ideas there. One can even make an obstacle course with tires as funtime for kids or even dogs. I recall traveling to a village once, where they were making flip flops from old tires. Great use and very economical. Garden and outdoor furniture particularly looks good with tires. Have seen tires being used as armrests or put on top of each other and a cushion to create seats.
So going back to tires being used to make flip flops. My wife came across this in a small village in western India over 3 decades back. What was unique about this village is that it was a village composed almost entirely of people that suffered from leprosy. Yes, it was India’s first leprosy colony and the history of leprosy rehabilitation began here in 1936. It was created by Shri Manohar Diwan who at the time was moved by the plight of people who had leprosy and were forced to live in isolation and extreme poverty. Dattapur later became the first place where the World Health Organization experimented the Multi Drug Therapy for leprosy in the early 1990s that revolutionized the treatment regimens for the disease.
Dattapur also had strong connections with Mahatma Gandhi, whose ashram was close by and one of Gandhi’s friends, Dattatreya Parchure Shastri was also admitted there. Gandhi helped destigmatize the disease at the time, caring for his friend himself and having him stay initially at his ashram and then later at Dattapur for treatment.
Dattapur over the years, has had hundreds of thousands of patients that have gone there for treatment and care. The village is self sufficient, where patients grown their own crops, make their own cotton material and their footwear. That in turn supports them to live their lives with a sense of community, belonging and dignity.
And that’s where the flip flops were made from old tires. These flip flops were kind of unique, made entirely from the used rubber tubing, they were soft and flexible and worked just fine for patients that had nerve damage and needed that cushion for their feet.
The story of Dattapur and the resilience of the people living in that village continues to reinforce the strength of the human spirit.
And with that strength and resilience is tied ‘curiosity’ and the innovative spirit.
So whether it’s the tubing on the river, or over snow or in the air like kite tubing….it’s all about keeping curiousity alive. And continuously keep exploring and keeping the mind open.
Fellow Mavericks, if you haven’t tried any form of tubing before, go ahead and do it – am sure you can find snow or water close to where you are….and if not, then go ahead and think about a creative idea for the next extra tire that comes your way!
Do keep writing your comments and sharing feedback at ‘theordinarymaverick@gmail.com’ and follow me on Instagram #theordinarymaverick. I love hearing from you. This is Ajey, signing off and wishing you have an amazing day and a super amazing year! Keep well.
This podcast series was put together as a team effort from the Bhardwaj family. Concept, design, title, researchers and reviewers: Ajey, Sanjana, Avantika and Niharika Bhardwaj; Script– Sanjana; Cover design – Niharika. All rights reserved.