I shouldn't B alive

Tête-à-tête with Death

Just after the laurels @ RRL & NIST, we were flying high in the sky. The confidence was boot-strapped by our hard work & generosity. Then we were on for the branch picnics. Every branch had organized their picnics & so it was, we the ‘EEEians’ hung out for the picnic on Nov 4^th’07. We choose to go to a beach as it was our only option. The place Paralakhemundi is in the extreme south & is an estuary to Andhra-Pradesh. The neighboring areas are full of beaches & ponds, which make a bee-line for all the picnic spots & adventurers. But one thing is of utter importance i.e. whether it be Palasa beach or any other normal beach in the vicinity; every beach is very-very dangerous for its high flying tides which are very cruel & conflated with immense energy… So we EEEians were on for the Party. We choose to be @ Srikakulam beach, same stuff. It was nothing but a death-trap. We boarded into a dilapidated bus counting its ages, but yeah! high on acceleration & celerity. So tumbling up & down we travelled to our dive like bunches of Humpty-Dumpty.

I observed the dumbest of guys who had jitters talking to girls had gone for a make-over. My GOD so much fun, so much singing, dancing & all that, I loved it. Felt as if school-days were back. It was so refreshing. I m not criticizing the fun & frolic but the thing which I saw in the bus was a strange view for me particularly or U can say the 1^st ever of its kind since, I joined engineering, the college taught me to maintain a distance from the opposite-sex, to mind, to stay away from them & rest, the girls taught us (not all…mind it!) as they maintained such a high-profile, GOD knew y? My school was much better! We dint had women’s-libber coz we dint needed it everything was just so accurately default, so much love & respect for everyone sprawled from inside. We missed this kinda co-operation from our opposite-sex in engineering indeed where we are expected to grow-up, but I felt my self much more matured in the school, no shame & no embarrassing moments working, playing & reading together. Since it has been 3 years being in the same branch & college so I shouldn’t complain about all this as it has now became a stale subject, who cares? God knows what’s the problem? I remember the very old dictum, “wherever women are concerned the un-expected always happens!”

Reverting back to the picnic & the bus… We reached our destination tumbling & my GOD it was so kool, such a superb place to hang out with. I was just thanking all who have selected the spot. It has a long bridge like structure spreading into the sea for few meters & the pillars supported it. It gave us a feel of a light house. Altogether the place was really nice, but yeah it was a dead beach, only few people who accompanied their repertoires were present. So me, kiran, pritish, samal, manoj & others decided & started playing volley. Playing & dwindling into the water we were enjoying to the utmost. It was a catchy & charming moment. But as I say destiny has some more surprises in store for me or something else for me to amaze. So I was going to experience a death-stroking more particularly breath-stroking stunt. In the meanwhile of volley we interrupted & we started making human colosseum & it was decided that a guy will climb & would jump into the water. It was fun giving exercise until.

Water was also very friendly. But the nightmare came true for me. I slipped the human architecture & suddenly lost the earth beneath. It was so strange, just imagine…ha! Even spookier to imagine isn’t it? So I though I would again gain the land. But it was the acme of my surprise I was pushed into the water to the side where level was dread & was flowed away strongly. I said to my self, it can’t happen to me common! Stop this game. But I was literally shocked inside the water (very salty indeed). I was getting deeper & I was encountering shocks. I tried to call Kiran, Hold me! Hold me! But I can see him static & restless. He could do nothing but to shout, “Sinha! Sinha!” I felt as if he was asking where you are going. Now, how could I answer him, such a stupid Q? It isn’t a joke he was really helpless & could do nothing but to shout for help, as he dint knew swimming neither I. Chandan (nick name: BURLA) when I met him, showed a strange expression, déjà vu as that of kiran. Samal too slipped off the architecture. I was unaware of this fact, but he was in a much safer situation @ least better than me. I wanted to jump but I missed the podium upon which I can lift up. On the other hand the much arduous work was to act against the water which was as strong as a wall. It doesn’t allow you to defy & grasp a breath. I rose, jumped with all my might & took a flashy breath to continue the vie. I was getting terror shocks. I was slipping off & off. So is this the end? I asked? May be! was the answer my reflex prompted. I couldn’t believe that all my frnds were standing & they are not moving a bit, literally struck by brazen shock. They had no other option then to see me flowing & getting away from them. I remembered the innumerable stories of people’s flowing & being drowned on to their voyage to picnics. I could see my name in the LIFO: Last in to the OCEAN & First out in the newspapers. Spookier utterly spookier!

In the small time I remembered everyone & everything I could. I could see my mom crying & grasping for breath. I could see all my laurels being wasted as all of them were recent wins & I was prepared for the ultimate end. I even remembered that my 3^rd mid & 5^th end sem were still unscheduled & I m unable to attend them. Most hurting fact was that I couldn’t add any further to my Achievements List as the recent wins were just the rookie season for me. I saw everything I could in that poky time of my tryst with death. I was wearing a blue band which was the only subtle & perceptible symbol as my arm waved for help. No one, neither the public present over there came forward. It all happened in such a short span of time, I can only presume you all to understand. I can actually find myself fighting inside the water, kicking it, punching it hard to get-up but I couldn’t. I was so helpless felt like crying, wish some one could have help me! Please my heart cried for help a message sprawled inside, “save me! U all are my friends…plz plz do something fast. If you be late to come to me, what’s the use? I would be gone by that time, make it fast friends…I need you.” I wanted to scream but the acerbic, barbarous, bestial & callous current didn’t allow me to convey this silent message. I wanted my friends to understand & everybody out there to do the same. It was so true & frightening, I m getting pilomotor-reflex (goose-bumps) narrating this. Trust me!

So finally the climax’s over, I remember the discovery series “I shouldn’t B alive” a perfect alias for the header.
TARA, my friend, somewhere was cuddling like a baby emulating a fish in the shallows of water, heard me. He came forward caught me! I could feel, Thank You GOD I m going to live now. Ah! I m relieved. He was like the GOD’s errand boy to me. He caught me & I pulled him towards me to get the grip. He wanted me to come forward, paddle forward. I could see nothing but TARA. He was my only hope. He was the narrow line between my life & death. Then some swimmers dared to come to me. A boy pushed me form back & I put in all my tactics to come away from the danger. I wanted to live, yeah! I wanted to live, seriously enough of this bad & void game. Oh finally I was safe to the shore badly defeated by the tides. I could see samal grasping & laughing as if it all was a joke. He too was punished but not like me. It was not at all a good experience. Kiran, Chandan & every one came to me, cushioned me expressed their fear that spelt inside them it was so true brazenly; I could see the fear so crystal clear on their faces. Never have I seen such frightened faces.
Thank You TARA, GOD & everyone…who love me. Here is I m safe & strong.
But the intrepid TARA was the gutsy lass who gave me my life back into my palms & felt as if he whispered “LIVE ur LIFE to the fullest this time”…which led to my lifetime achievement at IIT & much more…, soon to come on my flash list…Oh! Indeed it was very peculiar. The whole drama was so petulant & of course a never-ending, never-forgetting fear had made a mansion inside my heart & the memory is as fresh as if it all happened yesterday. Then I got my self dressed well & sat like a good-BOY (suna pilla in Oriya). That’s how my 1st picnic in engineering was an event to be ever remembered for me & all my friends who saw me drowning …A fresh anecdote of trauma ends for us or may b it’s a new beginning…! Of my life.
But one thing I can assure, after all this game my life changed a lot. I was destined for something & I m on the track to accomplish…my mission. For me life itself has been a game, ever since I m playing it.
Rightly said by Steve Jobs, “Your time is limited; just don’t waste it living someone else’s life”
Finally I should end with something I started i.e. “I shouldn’t B alive”… but I m.

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