The edge.
That is where is stood.
Eighty-three
feet above the ground.
“Don’t look
down”, the instructor said.
But I had
already looked down.
Stones. All
I could see is depth and stones.
I was scared.
Somehow,
I was the first in my group to jump. A pioneer of sorts. Hahaha.
Lucky me.
“We won’t
push you. You have to jump yourself “, was what they had told.
This wasn’t
going to be easy.
“Smile at
the camera”, he says.
Dude, I am
literally shaking out of fear and you want me to smile?
I had not
even dived into a swimming pool from the edge before. Always climbed down.
“Just look
straight and when I finish the countdown, don’t think. Just jump”, he says.
I had taken
a deep breath. I was ready. Or was I?
My heart
was thumping heavily.
Some motivational
Bollywood song was playing in the background.
Zillion thoughts
were racing in my mind.
“3……2……1...Bungee”
The mind
went numb. I could not hear the music anymore.
I could not
even hear me heartbeats.
This is happening.
Arms out.
Adrenaline rush. Trust. Madness.
The rain
drop had left the cloud.
The journey
had begun. The leap of faith.
I was floating.
I was flying. I was screaming. It was thrilling. I was dizzy. It was crazy.
I was
ripping through the air. Till date it was the wind that ripped through my hair.
There was
gravity. And boy, it had tremendous strength.
Mid-air, as
I was going down I thought “Should I stop and go back”
Mind is
mental.
There was
one rope between life and death, tied to my waist. Safety Harness they called
it. The only thing that was going to get me back alive.
But I had
not reached its end.
I was
there. Detached from secure platform. Detached from earth.
I was a
feather. A dried leaf that had just fallen from the tree.
I was ecstatic.
And then there was peace. Silence. Bliss.
There was nothing.
And then
that pull came. A gentle pull. The elastic rope had stretched its limits and
now was recoiling. The blood is rushing into your head.
I was going
up. Against gravity.
I knew I
was safe. I screamed again. This time in joy.
WOHOOOOOOOOO
Flying at
around fifty feet above ground was a different kind of high.
And then I
went down again. And up and down.
I was a
swing
A pendulum.
Time had
stopped.
The jump
was done.
The fears conquered.
