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The defining moment

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The defining moment

26th Jan, 2013, I realized the most important lesson of my life; “Life is very precious”, you know why….because the almighty wants you to live. You must be wondering that how can I say it this way, the way as if I had a word with the God tet-e-tete.
Well, the experience was not much less than that either.
Let me take some mental notes of the incidence and then start sharing, it’s not that one can forget such an incidence ever in his life, it’s that so much happened so soon, I need to really work hard to recollect everything.
Well, so it starts with my 2nd lesson of board surfing today morning. It’s a wet, windy yet a warm day and I looked forward to increase my time standing and balancing on the board right there riding on a high wave. The first hour went like crazy and I was beginning to believe that I am so natural at this sport. The increasing confidence was slowly but surely taking me in deeper and more dangerous waters. The point to note here is that my trainer is already exhausted and he is soaking himself with the beauty of the pristine female bodies on the shore….lucky him….Though he asked me too to have some rest but the waves were offering much more enticement for me to quit their lap, moreover, tomorrow I am leaving for Jakarta, back to business so how could I leave even those final moments of surfing in Bali…..greedy me….
So, I right on top of my board paddling with my hands fast to reach a certain high wave point; never knew that the wicked waves in this part of the world are known to suddenly change their paths and directions. Also please remember, if you are in middle of the sea or a desert, you have a hundred percent chance of getting disoriented and losing the direction. I also didn’t realize that the waves are taking me in too much of a danger. It is a phenomenon which takes place in the oceans sometimes when the underwater currents in the reverse direction are too strong. That could be understood if the waves suddenly vanish at the shore and don’t flow properly towards the further shoreline….they say, it’s the time when the Sea is hungry and it starts gulping everything….what a timing for me…..
Most of the people had realized this phenomenon taking place and they had gone to the other safer directions. But it was already too late for me. Now the only hope was that I don’t lose my board any which way. This of course was another big hurdle which could be understood well by those who have ever tried their hands at this sport. Well, so now, I making myself very calm, slowly rebalanced myself on the board lying on my stomach and starting paddling with my hands towards the sea shore. Probably, it was really the sea’s lunch time…..After those assiduous 15 minutes, I didn’t move even 20 metres, while another 500 metres are yet to be crossed. My shoulders had started paining and my knees due to that position were already sore. Till now, I was not much worried because I had travelled this much distance many times by swimming inside the oceans. But now after seeing the ruthless behaviour of the ocean, I realized that it’s not going to be easy at all. In normal circumstances, I can always travel around 500 metres in the sea but today were some exceptional times where the effort required to travel 50 metres was equivalent to travel those 500 metres normally. And I just could not infuse the energy and power in myself for a task suddenly needing 10 times of my capacity.
It was horrible. I could now sense the anxiety rapidly developing in my mind and I knew that this would disseminate my energies in the wrong direction and will slow me down. So, I look up to God and again tried hard to alleviate my brain from all the fears. Again rebalanced myself and started paddling towards the sea shore. The aching shoulders probably started crying now but what is the use of them if they eventually can’t take me back to the shore, I thought to myself and kept up the work. Passed another 15 minutes, I had managed to crawl to shorten the total distance by another 50 metres. Yes, it was faster but it was way too slow to reach the destination. The waves were just being too angry at me. And then suddenly, a wave probably thought of having a ball with me, suddenly rose ferociously from the back and tumbled my world upside down; are you kidding….I have been thrown off my board….my only survival chance was just wiped out. Another point to note here is, the boards are tied with your foot with a long rope. So, now I had to swim with a good additional weight of around 20 Kgs tied to my foot and surprisingly I can’t even catch hold of it too as the rope is long enough to keep the board well beyond my reach. I immediately started swimming, trying hard to keep myself afloat and the sea shore barely visible. I was thinking hard to find out a way. Looked at the board at the back but it was too far. Tried to relax my muscles by not swimming and mere floating but immediately the sea retaliated by spitting on me with another strong tide. I was completely drained off by now and was barely able to keep my head above water now. I knew that it’s a maximum of 5 minutes I can keep myself afloat and something has to be done within these 5 minutes. One option was that I take a dive inside the ocean and swim back to the board to get finally get over it. But that was too risky a proposition as the tired body could lead me to another bigger trap; the only other option was to believe in your destiny and wait for a miracle to happen.  I……… chose the latter, and then fate suddenly smiling back at me, it was not before a couple of minutes passed that a strong wave came from the back and led me around 50 metres quickly towards the sea shore, so encouraging….. Nonetheless, the wave directed the board too very close to me. Now it was on me to show some more courage and go towards the board to finally grab it…..I did the same.
Those last moments when I grabbed the board, were the defining moments of my life when I thanked God and understood that he is always there with us in varied forms. Today he was in the form of angry waves like a teacher to teach me an important lesson…”always expect the unexpected in this world as Human being is too small a creature to understand everything, don’t forget the Tsunami which jolted the very same place”. Then he transformed into the positive tide pushing me towards my life gently like a friend and then last but not the least he was always there in the form of the board protecting me like a mother on which I laid myself for a good 2 hours.
In the end as can be predicted now, I reached the shore in next 5 minutes lying on the board, riding on the gigantic but positive tides. The touch of sand was to my feet was like touching a new born baby…..yes, I was born again in my cognitive world.

V R Bhardwaj


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