Welcome again, below is a short story I had written once, I hope it entertains you :)
It was a fearless
jump, into the pool. It didn’t matter if all he knew was to kick back the
water, using the feet . It didn’t even matter that he had
never done that before, or that no one was looking after him, that no float was
around. He jumped into the light blue mass of chlorinated water, without
thinking twice. Rahul never knew why people stopped him from trying new things,
like it was a crime to be punished for. So what, if he was five years old, five
was a good number, greater than 1 or 2 or say, 4. The world was strange at
times, they pushed you to learn things from books faster than they allowed you
to do the real fun things. Books could
be fun, but they were books after all. You couldn’t really move your legs much
or jump while reading them. The only thing you had to do was shout words which
made little sense to begin with. And then, repeat them till they were printed
in your mind. So badly, that you had horrible dreams of letters like ‘B’ ‘A’
‘T’ coming together and smacking you like a cricket ball. Duh! For all that
work, all you got was another letter on your ‘report-card’ or whatever you call
it. An ‘A’ or an ‘A+’, and people would look proudly at you. Good, at least
mamma took you to the ice-cream parlor soon after. But wasn’t sliding on the
garden, head first, like a superman, much more cooler? Why couldn’t people give
you an ice-cream for that? The only thing you got out of it was a light smack on
the head. But now, nursing the scraped knee as it pained and blood came out relentlessly,
it seemed more meaningful to not jump
into pools just like that. Rahul sat on the edge of the water, very closed to
the gutter which flowed with newer water, which was refilling the grand pool of
Ramada resort. Panic never hit Rahul, just like fear and warning, it evaded him
completely. His mind was more occupied with imagination. What story to make up
for this? ‘Mamma I was moving carefully, along the edge, was thirsty, got here
to drink water, but fell down.’ And then a pouty little ‘I am sorry’ to make up
for the inconvenience of applying a bandage. That would do. They obviously
wouldn’t know that I wasn’t thirsty to begin with. But bigger things were to be
managed first. How to get to the hotel room with this pain. There could be a
magic fairy nearby, surely… After inspecting every corner of the big blue pool,
there was not even a little silver sparkle indicating the absolute absence of a
magic fairy. Why do the best things happen only in fantastic stories? Except
for the surprise gift from a mysterious Santa last year, nothing ever happened
as they said in books. Not a single elf had ever turned up on Rahul’s door, no
cup existed in his house, which when rubbed (or even broken, accidentally) gave
a blue genie. He was scared of the big blue genie, but given that he granted
wishes, he mustered the courage to rub the cup, only to get it broken, minus
any genie, or granted wishes. He felt a sudden pain on his ankle. The blood
wouldn’t stop, not from his knee, nor his newly discovered injured ankle.
“Hey, kid? What are
you doing here” shouted a mustached uncle from the only door in the place,
ten feet away. Moustaches never indicated good character, even if this uncle
talked decently, he sure had the makings of a villain. Good to be discreet in
such crisis. With an injured limb, one couldn’t escape such people easily.
“Nothing, just
checking the pool. Beautiful. Who are you?” he said, with as much confidence as
he could muster.
“I am going to lock
this pool. You better go to your room. Come, I’ll take you to ..” He stopped
mid-sentence, and then slowly walking up to him “ Oh my god, you hurt yourself,
lets go to the doctor first” He began to lift him up. Rahul didn’t like people
who lifted him up, he was five, especially by mustached uncles who didn’t even
ask his permission to take him to doctors.
“I am fine, uncle. You
please go. I will also go, to my room” he said, almost in anger, to which the
only reaction was a kind smile. The uncle showed no signs of giving him up.
“Are you going to kidnap
me? My parents will take you to jail. They will, I am warning you.” Rahul said,
without any further struggle.
“No, I am taking you
to the doctor. I have candy, you want some, on the way?” He offered more
kindly. This uncle was strange, he showed no signs of evil, not even fear after
hearing ‘jail’. Anyway, he could have the candy while he was being kidnapped.
The chocolate flavor was amazing, Rahul wanted to ask where did he get such
great candy from, but it was probably better not to talk to him.
“See, there we are. Is
he your son?” The uncle asked.
“Yes, Rahul, my son.
Beta, I have told you not to steal chocolates. And what is this…” gasp “ you have hurt yourself so badly,
where was he, where did you find him?”
What a kidnapper?
Gives you chocolate and hands you back to your parents. And gets you in more
trouble than before. Fear now hit Rahul, a jump into the pool was not going to
go unpunished. His made-up story would have to wait for some other day. Truth
was going to take over his little harmless adventure
“ He was lying on the
pool, I saw him jumping from the ..” Rahul gasped, he hadn’t seen anyone while
he was jumping, maybe this man was an invisible evil ghost. Uncle turned
towards him and stopped for a while, and to his surprise, winked. “ Oh, just
forget it. He was jumping on the tiles below to get a glimpse of the pool. You
know, how the pool’s entry is a few feet above ground. And he hurt himself as
he fell. Some broken tiles we’ve got. Gotta repair them. “
“You better. And
Rahul, come here beta, you could have told me , I would have shown you the
pool. And why are you wet? Spilled water on yourself? Thank you Mr. Sharma, he’s
the hotel staff-in-charge. He is a good uncle. Thank him Rahul.”
Rahul was too dumbfounded
to find back his voice. He croaked a little garbled ‘Thanks for saving me,
uncle” after which the elders fell back into a conversation about cracked tiles
and overactive kids. In between, Rahul whispered to uncle Sharma “Thanks for not telling” To which uncle
whispered back “Never ever jump into something without knowing how to get out
of it. ” Rahul knew for sure, this was someone surreal. After all, which
mustached uncle comes and saves you and tells a lie for you more effective than
your story. This was a day to remember.
Now ,as Rahul,23 was about to jump from
a height of about 700 feet, with a saddle like contraption attached to his torso,
with his life hanging by an elastic cord and looked below, he remembered what the ‘magic uncle’ said years
ago. This time around, bungee-jumping at the Verzasca Dam, he knew how to get back. Taking a deep long
breath, he dived, as fearless as 18 years ago, just a tad wiser.
P.S. : No, I do not have a deal with Verzasca. If you are able to get one for me, go ahead. ;) Kidding. :P Let me know your comments :).
