Christmas Eve at Ramnagar

December 24, 2005. Ramnagar, Karnataka. Tumbling over the face of the rock, I had a fleeting glimpse of what might be described in simple terms as "the end". The thought did not last very long as everything just froze in my head. For the first time in my life my mind was unconditionally clear as the body clinging to it raced to meet the earth 40 feet below from where it was stationed while rappelling down the face of the rock. My vision was a maddening amalgam of the sky, the rock and the earth all overlapped into each other like a nightmare envisioned by a crazed artist high on absinthe. And then with a thud I landed on my back next to a tree trunk with my eyes still open.

For what seemed an eternity I just lay there. The only indication I had that I was still alive was my heaving chest and my burning hand. I could hear Karthik yelling something from way up high on the rock but I was still in a shocked state to make any sense of it. Mahesh came running up and stopped well short off me. Emotions rolled off his face that included shock and relief and he seemed to be finding trouble putting words together. Not that I was doing any better.

Surprisingly, I could not feel any other pain except for the burning sensation on my left hand which started getting agonising by the second. I got up on my feet gingerly with Mahesh's help and was further amazed to find that I didnt feel any broken bones anywhere. Mahesh started yelling to Karthik that I had fallen and that he should pack up the ropes and equipment and get down asap to get me to a hospital. I told Mahesh that I was okay except for my hand. Examining it I found that most of the skin and flesh had been ripped off while trying to hold on to the rope during the free-fall.

Karthik came bounding down eventually. But the wait was unbearable as my hand started throbbing with excruciating pain. I started cussing but it didnt help much. To get my mind off of it I talked with Mahesh and we ended up agreeing that it was a close shave indeed. I realized that if I had worn a glove on my left hand I would have come out of this incident totally unscathed. But be that as it may, the realization that eventually dawned on me was that for the briefest of moments I was knocking on Grim Reaper's door. Not a pleasant thought. But in the months that followed it certainly reaffirmed my belief that life should never be taken for granted. Live it!