People who know me, would know why this is related to me. A class one coward. Let me tell you more about it.
When I think of my cowardice, the first thing that strikes me is the time when my parents shifted me to another room. The new room had no night bulb. This meant that there would be no light when I would be trying to sleep. Unacceptable. Tantrums, fights and when nothing worked I would refuse to leave my parent’s room. A little coaxing got me to stay in that room. The deal was that I would hold my sister’s hand till I fell asleep. After a while my sister got bugged and I was shifted to another room(with a night bulb).
My cowardice was not arbitrary. I always had some way of rationalising it. If I swim I might drown; if I ride the bike I might be hit by a car; if I go on that ride it, I might throw up; if I sleep without the light, the ghosts will spot me but I will not be able to spot them and so on. As a result I never learnt how to swim, or ride a bike or do anything remotely exciting.
Even when I grew up, the cowardice stayed. Unless I can conclude that this is not going to harm me, I do not take another step. It was indeed a golden day in my history, when I learnt how to swim. (Yes!!! I now know how to swim.)
This weekend I went on a trip with a club(VOC) to the Sphinx hut. The route was over the Panaroma ridge and from there onto the hut. It was a 21 kilometer route and we made it to the 17 km mark(at Panaroma Ridge) quite easily. We were supposed to make the return journey tomorrow. The forecast said that it might rain. I am now comfortable with snow, but snow on steep slopes, lack of proper trail and rain did not seem the right thing for the inexperienced soul. Although a lot of our group were enthusiastic about it, I convinced half the group to chicken out. This is the first time I turned round during a trip. But you know what, I don’t have a broken leg and am happy about it. I hope that my brain will keep on taking these mature decisions as time goes on. People as me, do not tend to do great things. To do great things you need to step out of your safety parameter. Do I care?
It was still an excellent trip. Here are some pictures. (Do read the captions… )
https://picasaweb.google.com/115685393216657178219/HikeToPanaromaRidge#
August 15, 2011 at 1:12 am |
Great pictures and a great story
August 15, 2011 at 3:52 am |
awesome pictures!!
August 15, 2011 at 4:31 am |
Thanks…
August 15, 2011 at 4:46 am |
lol… nice photos and a nice post too
BTW Nishu, do u do ANY work these days? I mean proper work for which they are paying you?
You are having far too much fun!
And sending me these emails right before the work-week starts is so not cool…
August 15, 2011 at 11:39 am |
You will not believe me if I tell you, I am getting far more done than usual
This has been good.
August 15, 2011 at 10:32 am |
Nice story ……. I enjoyed the pictures !! keep it up… someday u will learn to overcome the fear .
August 15, 2011 at 11:39 am |
Fear is like pain. It keeps you sane.
August 16, 2011 at 7:32 am |
Nice write-up. Never stop listening to your instinct. Its better than having a broken shoulder!
August 16, 2011 at 7:33 am |
btw, the chicken looks a lot like you
August 16, 2011 at 12:06 pm |
It was more of a cool minded decision. I take my intuition with a healthy dose of salt.
Also, chickens are so sweet
(just noticed that you have a sify account!!!!!)
August 17, 2011 at 11:33 pm |
Beautiful pictures!
October 23, 2011 at 7:43 am |
[...] people. Remarkably both of them went quite smoothly considering how scared I was(look at the chicken)and there is little to talk about except the history. My first day of swimming when I was kid. I [...]