Swamped with work nowadays. (You can see by the sporadic posts, and lack of my comments on your posts). Sometimes, I feel like just dropping everything and running away and doing something really crazy.
That made me think. What is the craziest thing I have ever done? If I think back, I realize that my life has been pretty dull that way. But the most thrilling thing I have ever done (which can be safely mentioned in public without fear of embarrassment) is to cycle in the dark through pouring rain.
I had come back from a day out, and reached college just a couple of minutes before the time the hostel gates would close. I had parked my bicycle near the main gate, and I needed to cycle about a kilometre to reach hostel. The rain was coming down with a vengeance. I couldn't see two feet ahead of me. I just had to get to the hostel before the gates closed, or else there would be a thousand explanations to give. As I found my bicycle, and fumbled with the lock, the lights went out. It was pitch dark, there was water everywhere, and I had just over a minute to reach hostel. I got on my bicycle and pedalled furiously. The rest was taken care of by the slippery road.
Even in that tense moment, I was aware of the greatest feeling of exhilaration ever. The wind was whistling past my ears, my eyes were full of water, I could feel the pricking of the rain drops on my face and arms. It was dark, and all I could see was a vague blurry road. My heart was thumping away, and I could hear it in my ears. I cycled blindly until I could vaguely make out the hostel gates in the distance. The guard was just closing them, and I rang my bell desperately. He paused, and held the gate open. I whooshed past him through the gates faster than (it seemed to me) an arrow.
Needless to say, I was dripping wet by the time I reached my room. But the thrill of reaching on time, and the pure unadulterated joy of cycling that fast in that pouring rain - it made me shiver with excitement (or cold?), but at the same time, I felt a warm glow inside me. It was a beautiful, beautiful feeling.
Ok, Amma, Papa, you can stop reading now, and you can call me and scold me. The rest of you, go on, tell me - what is the most thrilling thing that you have ever done?? [I won't tell your parents.]
27 comments:
Mine was getting on to a running train, They were my 12th days when i was in a hostel, our holidays had started and it was the last train of the day tht'd take me home. So i dared it, but whenever i think of it a chill crosses my spine,just one wrong hold, or one slip and i wouldnt be there to write abt it now. A thriller and a very dangerous one.btw after reaching hostel did u have a cup of hot coffee in the comfort of ur dry room. if u didnt, u will repent.
CAUTION: The adventure described above was performed by a 'professional' and u r not advised to try it at home or a railway station.
Ha ha..."You can call me, and you can scold me now" ROFLing...
You sure you want to hear that? :P
Mine... during good old days of my engineering, I went to Jog falls with two friends. We went down taking the stairs where the fater falls (he he). The stairs end about 100m from the actual fall but we had a tremendous urge to reach the fall. While three of the four streams of water land directly into the water, the fourth one (I guess the lady/rani) lands on stone. Amount of risk we took to reach the base amidst razor sharp, moss covered deathbed of stones, is really huge. My guts shake till date, after almost 8 years, when I think of the experience.
Then we really reached there!! I wish to describe here how it was (for the benefit of those who would not act as insane and hence would never get to see this). The algae/moss there was an inch thick like a green carpet but was not at all slippery. There were very strange insects which resembles leech, but only about half an inch thick. Turns out they were harmless. The water was ice cold and all of us were gasping by the cold shock when water first hit us. Then, the most wonderful thing was the shear force water excerts on you when it falls from hundreds of feet. It felt as if we were standing under a hail-storm. Our shoulders were red and heads paining with the blows mere water gave us. No wonder they make megawatts of power at the same place.
[Oohhh.. looks like I just went on. Now having Viky kind of dilemma, whether to comment or to post ;) ]
So, bike trip to hebbe falls with wife was surely not the 'most' crazy thing I have done.
BTW Shruthi, I just moved to my new office (you know where). I guess you are a stone-throw away from here too!
fater=water in the last comment.
And forgot to add.. can you belive that I was standing on the 'other side' of the Jog falls? behind the water curtain? Like the secret cave that Phantom* has? It was really out of this world. One wrong step, I would have ben out of this world for real!
* For the ghost who walks ;)
I haven't had many such thrills, but I heard this from a watchman. "It was raining like crazy one night. I was about to close the gate of the hostel where I worked, when out of the darkness I saw this creature on a bicycle, ears full of water, heart thumping so wildly that I could hear it, ringing the bell desperately and whooshing past me like an arrow. My first ever sighting of an UFO".
Now, I know what had hit him!
It was our second match with our seniors. The seniors had annihilated us in the first match. Since then, they had developed the nasty habit of reminding us of the result of the match on all sorts of occasions. So, the prestige of our batch was on stake during the second match.
It was a great match. We chased a big total. After initial collapse, our middle order fought back courageously.
Last over. 14 more runs required for a victory.
First ball. The guy who brought us back in the game was bowled. 14 required from 5 balls.
I got in to bat. The outgoing batsman told me "Bat left-handed, Inder. That would confuse those morons like hell".
Second ball. I successfully defended my wicket from an yorker, playing left-handed, for the first time in my life. Scored a run. 13 required from 4 balls.
Third ball. My classmate hit a mighty six. 7 required from 3 balls.
Fourth ball. Miss hit. 1 run. 6 required from 2 balls.
Fifth ball. Bowler tried another yorker. It turned out to be a full-length ball down the leg. I swept it to the boundary. 2 required from last ball.
Last ball. I found lots of people around me. The whole fielding side was breathing down my neck. I thought they were going to mug me. I think the bowler tried to bowl a good length ball to prevent me from freeing my arms. It was not his day. He ended up bowling a juicy short ball. Slam. The ball went crying to the mid-wicket boundary.
That triggered a wild celebrations on the field and promptly shut the loud mouths of our seniors.
I should post the details about this match in my blog...
ok, here is one. A friend who lived in Delhi was visiting her mother who lived in a village a few hours drive from Bangalore. I decided to visit her. One saturday afternoon after work, I took the bus to the village which was on the way to another bigger town. What I didnt know was that this particular bus did not go into the village but 'bypassed' it, ie, stopped 2miles away on the main road. I had no choice but to get down there and walk the 2miles alone amidst paddy fields and lakes. It was sunset when I reached my friend's house and I hadnt met a single person on the way. My friend was shocked to know that I had walked alone all the way, specially because, some convicts had escaped from the jail in the nearby district HQ and they were rumoured to be hiding in the caves in the hillocks around the village. None of the villagers ventured into the fields alone at this time of the evening. The memory of the silence of the fields in the dusk with the possiblilty of escaped convicts lurking around still gives me the jitters. Hope you keep your promise! ;)
Maverick: Whoa!! Come to think of it, I also have a Mumbai local train experience. But no, me not telling :D
Viky: Heh heh :D This is a surefire way to ensure that I don't get scolded.. hee hee ;)
Nirwa: Sure. On how you turned green! :D
Shastri: Wow! Sounds absolutely fantastic! And in the midst of nature too :D I envy you! :))
BEHIND Jog?? Wowie!! I have been on top of jog... from the place where the water actually falls.... but that was when there was hardly any water - but it was a great feeling nonetheless :)
Raj Plus: Ha ha ha!!! :)))))) Good one!!! Oh mannn can't stop laughing :D
Inder: Wow! I am sure it will make an interesting post :D
So were you carried on shoulders in celebration?? :D
Anu: *Shudder*!! But knowing you, the convicts would have had greater reason to worry that they would run into you ;)
One morning, I was trying to get the office bus in a hurry. I saw the bus coming and I had to cross the road to get it. I crossed the road in a hurry and a taxi swished past me at 80km speed, barely missing me. Wow, I was standing on the median in the middle of the road shocked. I made it to the other side of the road and it turned out it wasnt my bus :(.
Even now, thinking about it, scares me.
I am such a good girl.... how can I do something weird! ;)
Riding the bike with the headlights off on a hilly area ... That night was the best!!
I would like to do a bungee jumping sometime !!
It was thrilling whenever I passed my exams.
It was thrilling to be let off by the school principal after a warning for having broken a bone from the skeletonin the Bio-lab, or for having fought with a likeminded soul!
It was thrilling for me to meet most of my idols (Rajkumar, MS, RK Laxman, PC Sorcar, Indian Cricket Team....)
It was thrilling to meet the members of the Muktha blog run by Sanjay.
It was thrilling to ..... The list is too long. Good post Shruthi.
Nope. My batchmates gave me and the other batsman hasty hugs and got themselves busy dancing like crazy and teasing the seniors.
Ooh Shruthi, where do I even begin? My thrill ride began the day I got married..haha. But seriously, I started my blog because I have had so many wierd and thrilling experiences in the course of our travels.Too numerous to account here.
Vidya: Oh mann!! And the icing on the cake was that it wasn't even your bus :O..I am sure you are really careful now!
Manasi: Errr..ahem ahem... no comments :D
Vinod: Wow!! That was brave of you :D Were the headlights off on purpose? ;)
Yeah I had expected a lot of bungee-jumping experiences here..:(
RK: Ha ha.. nice list :) esp the passing of exams ;)
Inder: Hmmphh! Selfish ha? ;)
Travel Plaza: Ha ha :) you are right.. marriage is one thrilling roller-coaster ride :D
that's a nice story and you say it so well. you've a way with words
Hi, nice story and you made it more pleasant.
I have had such 'thrilling' experiences, one such is here. I will share many more such thrilling moments of my life, there in a few days.
Yes mam !! on purpose .. Try it sometime ...will b freaky :)
And do let me know if u get to know where to do bungee jumping in india ...
Not really selfish... It was all fun... winning a close match... dancing in joy... teasing the seniors like hell (its more satisfying if the person had teased u in the past... perfect payback)... great feeling.
We didn't think about how we won or who made the victory possible... the important thing was that 'we won' :)
Bungee jumping... I don't think that I would ever do it in my life... I wouldn't even step into the roller coasters...
VJ: Thank you so much :)
Srik: Thank you! Read your story too - woww! :D
Vinod: On purpose! Whew! :))
Bungee-jumping? Every once in a while, it is organized in the major cities... it used to happen quite often a few years back in Bangalore - haven't heard of one being organized for a long time, though.
Inder: Cool, that's the spirit :))
I am also pretty wary of bungee-jumping - after I saw a video footage of the bungee cord breaking! Luckily the person fell into something which broke her fall - and she survived with minor injuries. But it's pretty scary!
Do you know where I can patent a type of commenting? "The Viky-kind of commenting", where the comments of a post are fit and long enough to be a post themselves.
Been on leave all this week, will put up my episode here shortly, and convert it into a post on mine. *evil laughter*
Viky: You have already patented it, Viky! People are already talking about you :D
Ducati-man: Wow! Sounds fantastic!!
As already pointed out, riding the Mumbai trains gents First Class compartment at peak hour, getting on from Andheri, clinging on to the gutter on top of door with fingers numb, tip of one foot placed precariously on the footboard, the other foot on another thrill-rider next to me, ducking my head inside each time a wayside pole comes up with my cell phone ringing insistently in my trouser pocket (my wife from the safety of the comparatively less crowded ladies First Class frantically trying to know if I had got on to the train and was ok)...... And whats best, I get to do this everyday!!!! :)
Just kidding...though I do have the above mentioned good times on the train, maybe I will do a separate post on the thrilling incidents in my life sometime.
Good post, Shruthi!!! Sorry for the late comment. :(
Sachin: Oh mann!! That's scary! :D
I have had my moments on Mumbai trains - unforgettable! :D
You travel from Andheri to which station??
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