I put on the safety harness and was attached to the wire across the waterfall and slowly i started the descent along the slippery terrain. There was water gushing down behind me and taking every step slowly towards the edge. The closer i got to the water the colder the air became. And once at the edge I pushed hard against the edge with my shoes and Go.... I was in mid air, hanging on to a single rope for dear life and soon i was drenched with the gushing flow of the waterfall. The chilliness of the water disappeared somewhere in the excitement of being there. You felt free, no tension, no worries, just pure fun.. Living the moment, every moment. And before i could even register the whole experience, i was on the other end.
This end was a solitary rock in the middle of nowhere. Anyone stranded here can either go down 100m down to the bottom of the gorge or the only other way is to climb out another 100m. I had no option but to choose the latter. This was the difficult part of the adventure. With clothes all drenched and shoes also wet it was going to be a tough task to climb the flat surface of the hill. But that was my only way to live another day. I started my climb, attached onto the harness. One foothold at a time, one rock at a time. There came times when u were like where the hell do i hold onto, at times u felt ur foot not stable, at others you felt it was slipping. On one such step I pushed my leg too high and at that very moment i pulled my hamstring. Shrieking in pain i pulled my weight up and then took a rest of half a minute till the pain subsided. I could not turn back, neither could i give it up. The mission was still only half way through. At a few steps u noticed cracks in the stones you were about to put your weight on. So cautiously testing every rock the climb continued.
I looked up, i could see the two operaters standing at the top waiting for me to make it. With the finish line in sight, the last sprint to the top landed me on solid ground. With the first step up i threw of my harness and was down on the floor catching back on my breath, and thanking god to be safely out of this.
In those 15-20 min when you are in the middle of nowhere, one realises the importance of life. As i climbed up, i could sense that if something went wrong here, i would have too many dreams unfulfilled. My thoughts raced to the 2 most important people in my life and i knew i had to move out of it for them. They were out there, waiting for me, i had to..
Life indeed is unpredictable, so do whatever you wish today itself. So that even if tomorrow you meet death on the way, at least you wont have regrets.
On your deathbed, you dont regret what you did, you regret what you didnt do. So go on guys, do all those things you always wanted to. Go tell that one person how much u love him or her. Go tell your parents how much you love them. Go tell your friends how much they mean to you. Go do all those crazy things you always wished to do but put of for another day. Go live a lifetime....
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