Money and Me

I usually take something to read when I go to the toilet. This morning, I couldn't find anything to read, so I took my mobile with me. I logged into Facebook, after a long time, and began checking out what other people were upto in their lives.

As I was scrolling, I came across a couple of videos which left a lasting impression on me. The first one goes like this.

Guy in an SUV looks at guy in Ferrari and thinks "Look at him in a sports car". Guy in a sedan looks at guy in SUV and thinks "I too wanna do off-roading someday". Guy in an old cheap car looks at guy in sedan and goes "When will I have a new and shiny car". Guy riding a bicycle on the road looks at guy in the cheap car and wonders "How much more longer do I have to ride this stupid bicycle, I want a car too". Guy on foot on the road looks at guy in bicycle and thinks "A bicycle would have been so good". Finally, the camera zooms out to a small boy in a wheelchair on the porch of his house looking at the guy walking on the road and mutters longingly "He can go wherever he wants". Moral of the story: Be content and happy with whatever you have.

It was a very moving video.

I had woken up early today, so I had time, so I went on scrolling. The thing is, Facebook doesn't need you to click on the play button of videos anymore, videos just play automatically as you scroll. So the next video played. And it went like this.

This is a normal guy walking on the pavement, on his way to office. Suddenly water falls on him from an outlet from the first floor which was left open. He looks up, doesn't complain, picks up a flower pot from the side and places it right where the water falls. He walks on. He comes across a mother and a girl child sitting on the side of the road begging for money. The board read "For my daughter's education". He gives her some money and continues walking. He is having lunch at an outdoor restaurant and a dog comes to him and looks at him with hungry eyes. He feeds the dog a piece of chicken. He comes back home in the night with a bunch of bananas and places them next to his neighbor's door, an old lady who lives alone.

He does all this every day. After a few days...the same guy is walking to office - today the pot had a beautiful flower which had just bloomed, water was still falling on it from the first floor outlet. He smiles and walks on. He gives money to the beggar lady but she wouldn't take it. The next moment, her daughter comes by, in school uniform. After lunch, as he walks back to office, the dog follows him, tail wagging, pretty much wherever he went. That night, his neighbor, the old lady was waiting for him and when he came with his usual bunch of bananas, she gave him a big hug, with a wide smile and tears in her eyes. The video ends with these lines - "This man goes out of his way to help other people. He doesn't get money or fame in return. He just gets love and kindness. He makes the world a better place"

This was an even better video, almost moved me to tears.

As I came out of the bathroom, I thought to myself "Yeah, money isn't everything in life. I should stop wanting that car, or that bigger TV or that trip abroad. I should be happy with what I have"

And then I came out and saw the electricity bill lying on the table - 550Rs. Next to it was the gas bill - 300Rs. Rent is due in a few days. Credit card bill after that. Internet, grocery, maid and miscellaneous bills need to be paid too. I was charged 120Rs by Uber to come to office. Just when I got to office, sister called me and asked for some money for her expenses. Mom had called yesterday asking for some money for a master checkup which she had to do.

And then I thought to myself "I better have some f***ing money in the bank before I watched videos like those and started believing money isn't everything".
 

Last man on earth

The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. 

The wooden noise reverberated across the empty room. The only furniture in the room was the chair on which he was seated. The sudden noise sliced through the vacuum, sending a chill down his spine. He immediately sat erect. ‘Who could it be?’ It was terrifying to even imagine. He had been sitting there for a long time now, he had lost track of time after the first few days. Strangely he didn’t feel any hunger or thirst, he had just been sitting on the chair…sometimes asleep and other times awake, thinking of nothing. He couldn’t comprehend how he ended up inside this room. He tried hard to recollect what had happened – how did everybody else die? how did he manage to survive? where was he now? where was this room? – a thousand questions pounded his head but he wasn’t able to answer any of them. It was like his head was wiped off clean of all that had happened in the last few days or weeks or even months, and he had no way of finding out.

Meanwhile, the knocking continued. It was slow and rhythmic. Whoever was knocking the door was in no hurry. Did they know he was in here? What were they looking for? Have they come to help him? If everybody else in the earth is dead, then who is this? His mind raced…who could it be?

Could it be his mother? 

No, that’s not possible. She died when he was 16. It was the saddest day of his life. She had been sick for a while then. ‘Acute lymphocytic leukemia’ the doctors had said. Blood cancer was the more common word. He didn’t have the money to treat her. Chemotherapy was very expensive. He didn’t even have his father with him, he had left them when he was 4 years old. And he never came back. He was their only son. He had loved his mother more than anything else in the world. She was a short woman, with thick brown hair and green eyes. She had loved him, provided for him and taken care of him. He was her prized possession. He remembered how she used to carry him along with her to work since she could not afford a nanny. She was a very kind, gentle and generous person. All their neighbors liked her.

He remembered the day he had won the debate competition at high school. His mother had taken two-hour permission from the soda bottling company and had come to school to watch him debate.

He recalled every small detail from that day. How overjoyed his mother was. She hugged him so tight, when the results were announced, that he had difficulty breathing. She had tears in her eyes when one of his teachers met her and told her what a brilliant ward her son was at school. All the way back home, she proudly told everybody in the streets about her son’s victory in the debate competition. She held his trophy high in one hand and clutched his hand with her other. She cooked him his favorite meal – pork chops and mashed potatoes – that night and kept telling him how proud she was of him and how he was destined to achieve great things in life. He listened to every word…he couldn’t remember when he slept.

The sickness had begun about 4 months before she died. She started getting frequent fevers and headaches. The first couple of times, she would just rest at home or take some meds from the nearby pharmacy and go to work. But then the fevers continued with increasing frequency. Over the next two months, she had cough too…incessant dry cough. She was growing weaker and weaker with every passing day. One night, there was blood in her mouth when she coughed. She had tried to hide it from him but he had found out. He had never seen his mother bleed. He was terrified, he was trembling, his knees almost gave way. Somehow he gathered the strength to speak and insisted that they go to a hospital immediately but his mother refused. The next morning, there was blood again. He rushed her to the hospital which was in the town about 8 miles away. They had done a few tests and found out she had cancer. With chemotherapy, the doctor said, she would live another 8-12 months but that was going to cost a lot of money. His mother insisted on not taking the treatment, she felt it was just not worth it.

She died in the next 4 months.  So it could not be her.

The knocking had become more impatient now. His mind was racing. He stood up to just walk to the door and open it, but he couldn’t. He was too afraid, too uncertain. He looked around for anything which he could use as a weapon if the visitor turned out to be hostile, but he couldn’t find anything except his chair which was bolted to the floor. And suddenly the knocking stopped. It was unnervingly quiet. The room had no windows except for a small outlet at the top west corner. He had no chance of reaching it. He sat back down, wiped the perspiration off his forehead and started thinking again.

Could it be his father?

No way. He left him and his mother when he was 4 years old. He hated his father. He did not want to think about it any further.

Could it be his girlfriend from school?  

He hadn’t met her since graduation. They had planned to join the same college but she never contacted him since then. She had moved from their town and he didn’t know where she went, she hadn’t given him any phone number or forwarding address.

Could it be his friend John?

John and he grew up together. They went to the same school and roamed about the streets of their small town always together. But he couldn’t remember the last time he met John or what had happened to him. Had he found him and come to take him with him?

He couldn’t think of anyone else in his life that was important enough to come see him other than these people.

Or could it be his captors? Have they come back to take him away and torture him and kill him? Why had they left him alone all this while?

A loud thud on the door brought him back to his senses. The realization struck him hard. EVERYBODY ELSE in the world was dead except him. He could not justify to himself how he knew that but he knew it. He was the only person left on earth. It could not be his mother or his girlfriend or his captors.

The knocking had become impatient now. His heart jumped. He stood up and paced across the room trying to come up with some kind of a logical explanation to what was going on.

May be it was the aliens. May be they had come to earth and destroyed everything. He had no way of knowing since he couldn’t remember anything. They could kill him or eat him alive or take him away to their planet. Images of all kinds of aliens from the movies he had seen whizzed through his mind.

The knocking continued. They wouldn’t call out his name or shout or anything. They just kept knocking the door. He shut his ears for a few seconds hoping that when he released his hands the knocking would have stopped but to his dismay, it still continued. 

Could it be God?

May be it was God. It didn’t seem possible but considering his circumstances, he didn’t know what was possible and what was not. Was God here to reward him for surviving the test which swept away every other living being on the entire planet? But why now? Where had God been all these days? Maybe, God was looking for him and finally managed to find him.

He decided to call out to God and see if he responded.

“God! Is that you?”

The knocking stopped, but there was no response.

It seemed to him his actions bordered on stupidity, but he didn’t have much option.

“Please answer God, is that you?”

Silence.

“Whoever it is, say something. I’m not going to open the door if you don’t speak up”

Still no answer. Only silence.

To his horror, the knocking began again.

He could not take any more of this. He decided to open the door, no matter what or who was on the other side. He was the last one left and he knew he wasn’t going to do much in this world alone any which way. He was going to do it.

He wiped his face with his sleeve and slowly walked towards the door…

'BOLT'ed

There he stands…

Its 8.30pm in London, 6^th August, 2012

1.00am in India the next day

The moment has arrived.

The most awaited event of the London, 2012 Olympics was about to begin - the men’s 100m final

There he stands…

I’m sitting in front of my television set, and I know the whole world was watching too along with me. I could only envy the 80,000 or so in the stadium who could watch it so close, so real. I’ve already had two coffees to keep myself awake

There he stands…with his yellow jersey dazzling under a thousand arc lights and a million flash lights, smiling at the camera. He knows the whole world is watching him. The camera zooms – he strokes his bald head with his left hand..salutes the camera with the index and middle finger of his right hand..he jogs a couple..swivels..smiles and then looks away. Away from the camera, away from the crowds in the stands..he stares into oblivion which the camera cant capture anymore

He is the fastest man on the planet. He is the defending champion. He holds the record time of 9.58 seconds which he clocked in 2009. But he hasn’t had the best of preparations to the Olympics. He got himself disqualified in the World athletics championship in Daegu this year after a false start. He lost the Jamaican Olympic trials to his compatriot, his co-trainee and his fiercest rival Yohan Blake who is now standing right next to him on lane 5. The critics have almost written him off. A lot of things have been said in the papers. He knows the pressure is on him, he can feel it, but he doesn’t show it

The loudspeaker begins announcing the athletes from lane 1. A huge roar erupts across the stadium as his name is called out. The camera once again closes up on him, a few seconds longer than everybody else. This time he becomes a DJ. He’s flexing his muscles..he’s holding his imaginary headphones with his left hand and is operating the disc with his right. He’s gauging the bass, treble and rhythm…he’s the rock star and the stage is set.

The call goes and all the 9 athletes kneel down and take their positions on their launch pads on earth. For them, it’s an honor racing with him. For him, there’s something to prove. He kneels, looks into the sky and signals a cross in prayer. He looks back down into the earth, flings his gold chain back and focuses.

SET!

He takes position. All the hard work..all the sweat..all the hype..all the criticism..it all boils down to this..the moment of truth. He waits in patience for the blast of the gun. Not another false start, not this time

GO!

The gun shoots and he takes off. He doesn’t start well, as usual. He’s not one of the best starters. He runs, his eyes still planted on the ground, his body half bent, his long legs gathering momentum, the others have gone ahead. He runs..straight as an arrow..has straightened now, his eyes looking forward..his broad chest pounding into the hapless air

He transforms into the beast, his feet thudding into the tarmac. He storms away with his bright white spikes almost not even touching the ground, racing ahead of the rest of the pack. The crowd roars..the commentators scream..cameras flash. He’s flying. His opponents are running the race of their lives…behind him. He’s gone!

80 metres. He almost slows down, to look at the clock to his left as he reaches the finishing point pushing his head in front ahead of his galloping body

He’s won!

He keeps running..smiling..pointing into the sky..into the crowds into the stands. He celebrates with them, grabs two Jamaican flags, turns around, drapes one flag around his silver medal winning rival and another around himself. They hug each other and he pats Blake on the back. Then he goes on to click pictures with the audience

He comes back to the track and freezes into his trademark ‘bolt’ pose. The crowd go berserk. Scores of cameramen swarm around to catch a glimpse of the man..to etch the moment in history. Then he walks off dancing and swinging

There was Jesse James (my favorite athlete of all times), there was Carl Lewis, there was Maurice Green

But this is BOLT, USAIN BOLT - the fastest man on the planet!

I switched off the TV and went to bed.

Some of the most fascinating moments of our lives need not be a few days, a few hours, not even a few minutes…9.63 seconds will do just fine.

What I want

‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ asked the teacher

‘Happy’ said John Lennon

‘You didn’t understand the assignment’ they told him

He said ‘they didn’t understand life’

I wish I could have said that when my second grade teacher asked me the same question. But then, I being a lesser mortal that I am, said ‘astronaut Mam’ with pride twinkling in my eyes. There had been a science exhibition at school the previous day and the model of the solar system captivated my imagination for the rest of the day and whole of the night. A few days passed and with my memory, my ‘ambition’ too faded away

I loved to dance. I had been dancing since I was 3. School annual day function, 1997 - 4^th grade. I got the opportunity to choreograph a group of 5 boys and lead the dance performance. It was a massive hit, the ovation was addictive. I decided I wanted to become a dancer. I dreamed for the next few days of me becoming a huge star in the showbiz, millions of fans dying to get my autograph, never ending proposals from female fans and tons of money pouring in - Well this one instance, I have to admit I still dream of all these things

1998 – India vs Australia ODI series, Sharjah. Sachin Tendulkar was at his marauding best and the Aussies had no clue how to stop him. ‘The desert storm’ we fondly call the series. I would pay today to watch the same look on Shane Warne’s face when Sachin danced down the track and lofted him over the mid-on boundary again and again and again. I was left speechless at the man’s genius. That’s when I made my mind that I wanted to become a cricketer, an opening batsman at that. Nothing was going to stop me

9^th grade, I was 14 years old. The computers were beginning to take a stronghold of the day-to-day happenings of the planet. May be since long before but that was when I realised. I was fascinated by what that box could do just by hitting a few keys. One day during computer class, I got a program right at the first try after it was taught to us. My eyes lit up looking at the monitor, I knew at that moment, what I was going to do with my life. I was going to be a ‘computer engineer’. I would go on to learn that the term was ‘software engineer’. I again fantasized about how I would work in a huge company with air conditioned glass buildings, flying abroad, marrying in an island, getting my children to study in the most expensive of schools, etc, etc.

But by the time I finished my tenth grade, it was clear that computer programming and I were simply ‘mutually exclusive’. I couldn’t find a better term to describe our relationship. We just couldn’t exist together in the same room. We broke up, and I moved on

I had kept my options open and had taken up Math and Bio when I had to choose a group for my higher secondary. It didn’t take long for me to discover that Math didn’t come to me naturally too. I had somehow managed to do decently well until tenth grade but this was a different ball game altogether. A ‘violent’ teacher didn’t make things any better. Towards the end of school, I hated Math more than anything in my life

Board exam results were out and I had scored 199 in Biology – I myself couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at it the first time. I didn’t want to be a doctor because I knew I didn’t have the mettle to get through the entrance exam, let alone completing the course. And suddenly, Biology seemed to be the future. Research in the fields of Microbiology and Biotechnology seemed to be the next big thing and I sure wanted to be a part of it. And also it was high time I got back to reality in my life

I took up Microbiology for my under graduation. The first few sessions in the lab were enthralling. I was sure I had finally made the right choice in life. But yet again, painfully, I began to lose interest. Invisible organisms magnified under the microscopic lens didn’t appeal to me anymore. The lab looked to me a mere room filled with machines. I wasn’t able to appreciate the magnitude of their applications. Experiments went unfinished and the autoclave stunk. I just couldn’t hold on, I gave up

I didn’t drop out of college, I was determined to stay – for a few other reasons too. It was the end of second year and I still didn’t know what to do with my life. And then, out of nowhere, MBA came beckoning and I knew I had to take it, for a decent career. I didn’t have much choice. It was not about dreaming anymore, it was about survival, it was about respect

I worked hard and made sure I got into a reputed institution. I fared pretty well through the course and today, I am sitting here as Management consultant – a term I hadn’t even heard of a few months ago – in an investment banking and market research company. No doubt, the salary package is decent, there is no pressure whatsoever at work (I wrote this post sitting at office), I’m never home during weekends, there are a good bunch of friends around me, the future looks secure.

But, every morning when I wake up, I stare straight into it, its right in front of me, like a monster – THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT.

So, what do I want?

How I wish, more than anything else, I knew the answer to it.

We're sorry, Afreen.

Dear Afreen,

I don’t know who you were until 5 days ago when you appeared in the papers. You were admitted in the hospital with cigarette burns and torture wounds fighting for your life. Being only 3 months old, I don’t even know how you could take all that and still be alive ‘fighting for your life’. I can’t imagine the pain you would’ve gone through these 90 days of your life. The last 5 days I prayed, hoped and waited for you to somehow get better and go back home with your mother. But yesterday morning, finally, you gave up. May be you couldn’t fight anymore, may be you had no more strength left in your 3 month old tender body – cardiac arrest due to multiple convulsions, the doctors said

You got a death sentence. Your crime: being born a girl!

Your father wanted a boy baby. And when you came to this world, he didn’t like you and he tortured you. Probably he didn’t realize that it was his ‘X’ chromosome too that made you a girl and he held your mother alone responsible for it. He even demanded one lakh rupees from your mother just because she gave birth to you

Your mother Reshma doesn’t want to forgive your father who’s in prison now. She wants a slow death for him. What I want is to kill him myself. Looks like his co-prisoners almost did it yesterday when the news of your demise broke out before the cops rescued him

I’m sure there are several more babies like you being tortured and dying everyday by the ‘Umar Farooq’s of India for being born a girl whose stories didn’t make it to the papers

We’re sorry we couldn’t save you Afreen. We’re sorry that this world couldn’t give you any sort of good memories to take back in your 3 month stint. May be it’s for the good, may be this country doesn’t deserve a precious girl child like you

Again, we’re sorry!

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bangalore-baby-afreen-dies-of-cardiac-arrest/247743-3.html

Rapids!

‘Boring’

‘Just the usual’

‘Screwed up’

‘Nothing much’

‘Fucked up’

‘Don’t even get me started on that’

The above mentioned responses are some of the most common ones you get when you ask somebody that fateful question,

“How’s work going on?”

Of course there would be positive responses like,

‘My boss is hot so I don’t mind’

‘It’s not that bad coz social websites aren’t blocked’

but am talking about the majority here. All of us would agree that most of us don’t actually love to go to office when we wake up in the morning.

It’s pretty much the same story with me and my friends. So, as an act of beating this boredom, we usually slosh the riches we earned during the whole week slogging it out at the workplace on parties and dinners and trips during weekends.

One such attempt turned out to be an incredible thrill.

‘Macha next weekend white water rafting. We’re going’ said Anjana on the phone

‘What?’

‘Rafting da. There’s this place called Nagarhole en route to Coorg’

‘Okay’

‘What okay? We’re going. Don’t make any other plans’

‘Wait macha. Rafting is that boat rowing thing isn’t it’

‘Yes that’s it. It’ll be fun’

‘Who all macha?’

‘You, me, Ankita, Aparna, Labib and Royce. Am just asking Anki too’

‘Ohh’

Anjana, Ankita and I were classmates from MBA and good friends. Labib, Aparna and Royce are Anjana’s friends and I had met them only once before so I wasn’t very sure how comfortable they would be with me and vice versa

‘It’ll be fine da. You’ll have fun with them, chilled out they are’

‘Alright macha am in’

And Ankita confirmed too.

The plan was to leave Friday midnight and reach there Saturday morning. River rafting right away after breakfast on Saturday. Some trekking in the evening and the usual bonfire and stuff in the night. Sunday morning we would do river crossing and then leave there after lunch and come back via Mysore where we would just pay a visit to the Maharaja’s palace and may be the zoo. Royce made all the arrangements, we booked an Innova.

It was a 5 hour drive at the max spanning 220kms. We had to go through Channapatna, Mandya and Srirangapatna. It was supposed to be a beautiful drive with all the scenery and jungle stretch and all that.

The six of us gathered at Labib’s and Royce’s place on Friday night. We had to start at 2am midnight. We were there at around 11. We sat around hogging on the snacks which was packed for the journey and copying music on the USB and chatting. Labib and Royce also finished their packing meanwhile.

The car came by 1.30. We loaded up the back seat with luggage, we also loaded Anjana and Ankita along with it. Labib, Royce and Aparna settled down in the middle seat while I took my place in the front to chat the driver up. But I knew little of what was coming. I spoke in Tamil, I spoke in English, I even tried the negligible amounts of Hindi I knew but all the driver spoke was Kanada and only that. So basically we had no clue what each person was saying to the other. Nevertheless, we had some fun conversation through most parts of the trip!

It didn’t take much time for me to become friends with Labib, Royce and Aparna and I’m sure it was the same with Ankita. They were very sweet people and a lotta fun. Royce went out of his way to make us feel comfortable and we did. The journey went on with a lot of music, most of it stereo and some very good live music too! Aparna sings beautifully and everybody else did a fair job providing company.

After about 2 hours, we stopped at some place, I don’t remember exactly where, for coffee. We had coffee and bread omelette (spell that word however you want) and shifted places. The night was dark, the music played on, it was getting increasingly cold and we took turns sleeping.

By the time we reached the jungle stretch with some 20km to go, we were all wide awake again. It was about 5.30 in the morning, the first rays of the golden sun pierced through the thick cloud cover and we had light and warmth back in our lives!

The drive through the jungle was serene. We weren’t allowed to play music which would scare the animals away. It didn’t turn out to be a wild safari by any extent but our luck was pretty decent. We caught sight of several deers, bisons, elephants and a lotta elephant dung.

It was exactly 6 when we reached. The sun had gone back to hiding. It had been raining throughout the night. The place was fresh and beautiful and cold. We checked into our rooms and ordered for breakfast immediately. We were so hungry that we left bathing and freshening up for later.

Idlis and dosas and aapams and multiple varieties of chutneys along with sambar were just what we needed at that moment. When we were done we felt like doing nothing but hit the bed and sleep the whole day. The sun too wasn’t out yet. It was

‘We’ll just sleep guys. Rafting and all we can do later’ Labib said with lazy eyes yearning for the bed

I liked the idea too. But the others were determined and the rafting slots were booked too so we had no option. Royce called the rafting organizer guy and he asked us to come there by 11. It was only 9 then. The river was about 5km from the resort and it was a 30 min drive. We took our showers and dressed up. By the time we were ready to go it started to rain, rather heavily.

‘You sure wanna do this’ asked Labib again looking at all of us

‘Yesss’ screamed Aparna and Anjana with infectious enthusiasm. Suddenly they looked like cheer leaders to me. Ankita was pretty composed as she was the only experienced candidate among all of us. She had already done rafting at Bheemeshwari and was proclaimed to be a pro in it.

The rain got heavier as we started for the river. We reached the bank of the river after a considerably slushy ride. I got down from the car shouting ‘yaayy rafting baby’ bubbling with excitement and slammed the door shut. A stinging pain slashed through my right hand and then through my spinal cord straight to my head. Only then I realized I hadn’t taken my right hand completely as I shut the door with my left hand. My right index finger was almost jammed! I squeaked in pain and jumped around. The finger turned red and turned hot in a few seconds. None of these people knew I was hurt they thought I was jumping around in excitement. It took me some effort to attract their attention and then they all came swarming around me to check my condition. The nail started to turn grayish green in a few seconds, it was a blood clot. The pain was enormous. I said I was okay and we proceeded walking to the river bank.

They had a small office types at the bank. We had to fill forms with our names and other details with emergency contact numbers. I couldn’t hold a pen with my jammed index finger, Aparna filled my form. The paper said that the organization was not in any way responsible if ‘anything’ happens to us during the raft. It was suddenly frightening with the rain pouring down. Also I need to confess at this point that I didn’t know swimming. Not a soothing truth that is.

Nearby, other groups of people all geared up in their air bags and helmets were standing around their rafts intently listening to their trainer’s instructions. Our trainer hadn’t come yet. We were drenched and shivering in the cold. We couldn’t wait to get on to the boats and row the damn thing. I was getting used to the pain but with hope that I would forget about it once I got into the waters.

Our trainer finally arrived. He was short but looked well built.

‘Machaa he’s hot’ whispered Ankita into my ears

‘Yes macha why not’ I said. And immediately regretted saying that.

He lead us to our raft beside which all our air bags and helmets and oars were kept. We were handed our gear and he along with another helper helped us put on our gears. It kinda felt cool after wearing all that, I was already forgetting the pain in my finger.

We couldn’t take our cameras our mobile phone along. The organizer would take pictures at different points standing on rocks. We had to pay for the photographs. We took a picture before we got into the water

‘Okay attention please’ shouted the trainer

We all looked at him

He stood besides the raft with one leg on the raft and the paddle in his hand. He looked like some warrior standing on top of a hill looking down on his army.

‘This is the raft’ he said pointing to the raft beneath him. It was massive and blue in color. I bent down and had a close look at it…you know just to make sure there weren’t any holes in it. I even touched it to get a feel of how strong it was.

‘It’s okay Sir it’s very safe’ the trainer said

I stood up and smiled embarrassingly

‘Machaa you’re pretty light to worry about the strength of the boat’ said Royce

‘And this is the paddle’ he said lifting up the paddle in his hand. We all lifted ours paddles up as acknowledgement

He continued with his instructions about how we had to sit, how we had to hold the paddles and how we had to row when he yelled specific things like “Right forward” “Left backward” “All fast forward” and all that

Finally we got into the raft. We were six of us and the raft had three thwarts, so it was a perfect fit. The trainer placed himself at the back. We sat down clamping our feet to the floor and holding on tight to the rope which was tied along the D-rings around the raft. It was going to be a 5km raft with 4 or 5 rapids.

For those who aren’t familiar with the term, ‘rapids’ are those when there are hollow trenches in the river and the water flows really fast. The raft rises above the water at high speeds splashing water all over and we all scream. Well that’s the most fun part in white water rafting.

So we were all set to go. The rain was still pouring down. ‘This is going to be fun’ I thought to myself

One last scream.

‘All forward’ shouted the trainer

And we rowed…white water rafting just began!

Right forward

Left backward

All stop

All forward

The trainer yelled on.

The rain poured on.

We were nearing our first rapid. My heartbeat rose.

There were two huge rocks at a distance in between which there was a massive trench and the river seemed to flow at enormous speed through it

‘The rapid is coming’ said the trainer

We all looked at each other gripping our paddles tight

‘now when I say All forward, all of you row as fast as you can but do it uniformly. Only then the boat will sail through above the water smoothly’ he said

‘Okay’ we all said

We neared the rapid, suddenly the raft seemed to gain speed. The water beneath us was flowing faster here

‘ALL FAST FORWARD’ screamed the trainer at the top of his voice

We all screamed and rowed the paddles as fast and as hard we could.

Uniform? What uniform?

The raft was racing now…we kept rowing…and suddenly just as we neared the rocks the raft took a wide plunge in between them while gaining even more speed water splashed and poured all over the raft and us, we couldn’t see anything for a couple of seconds and then the raft rose high sailing over the water giving us the thrills of our lives. The adrenalin when the boat went under the water…then rose over it…the speed with which it happened…was unmatchable! I suddenly realized this was the most fun I was having in a long time.

And then we were back in smoother regions. There was a part of the river where the water was very still, it was still flowing but slower than all other parts. We asked if could take a plunge and the trainer agreed. He didn’t let us jump without giving another lecture on how to float with our heads up and what to do and what not to do if we drift away.

I made sure my airbags were tight, said one last prayer to the Gods and jumped into the water without a second thought. The force took me inside the water for a second and when I came back to the surface I could see and Anjana and Ankita still sitting in the raft hovering over the decision to jump or not to jump. The four of us were now yelling at them to jump. They didn’t look like budging so we went near the raft and dragged them down while the trainer gave a little nudge from behind. They fell into the water screaming in apparent fear but then immediately realized how peaceful it was. We floated for a while…tried a few diving stunts and then got back coz we were running late.

Three more rapids followed which were equally magnificent to the first one. We came to another small bank where we were supposed to finish. A few helpers were waiting there to help us carry the raft and place it on the jeep which would take them to the starting point and another one which would drop us to the same point. We wouldn’t be able to walk the distance back, especially after a nerve racking, energy sapping ride like that.

We got back to the resort and all we could do was have lunch and sleep. We woke up in the evening and took a stroll around the hills. It was dark when we came back. The drinks which were ordered had arrived along with some hot spicy ‘pakoda’ and ‘bajji’. Please don’t ask for their English translations. They lit the fire of us. The warmth of the fire was heavenly considering the cold had gotten to our bones by the time we came back after the small trek. The drinks were drained while the side dishes were refilled four times. It was time for some dance. We turned on the music and danced around the fire like tribals. And then Labib did a couple of romantic solo performances for Aparna and we made Ankita show off the dance form she had been learning for a while. The fire was still on, it was about 11 in the night.

We finished dinner around the fire and sat down to play dumb charades. Labib, Royce and Aparna teamed up against the rest of us. We were doing movie names. There were a few tricky ones which demanded a lot of intellect and effort, like for example ‘Chronicles of Riddick’ – I am not going to explain how I managed to act that out.

We went back to our rooms at around 12 and settled down to play ‘bluff’ with cards. Those who don’t know ‘bluff’ learn it now. I tell you, ‘bluffing’ is a lot of fun!

We went to bed at around 1.30 and woke up the next morning before 8. It was supposed to be river crossing today and then check-out. Royce called the organizer fellow to ask him when we had to come there. The organizer told him that the river crossing trainer hadn’t come today and gave us two options – take your money back or do another white water raft. There was no question of taking the money back. After a raft in the pouring rain the previous day it was going to be a raft in under the shining sun today.

It was a different trainer today and he turned out to be more aggressive and fun than the previous one.

The adventure and the excitement were double! We had the time of our lives.

After another breathtaking raft we headed back to our rooms and checked out.

We took the Mysore route while coming back. We visited the zoo and also sneaked a peek at the palace. We relived the whole experience throughout our way back to Bangalore except for one debate. A santro was going in front of us on whose back window the following lines were written –

“During the time of rapture, this car will be unmanned”

All of us had different interpretation for it and finally we left it unsettled.

You could give a shot at it yourself

We reached Bangalore by 11 Sunday night.

We would all have to get back to the ‘boring’, ‘just the usual’ offices but the impact of this trip was going to last for a long time.

White water rafting was sexy..!

By the way, the finger has healed.