The Fall

Sitting above, he was eighty-three meters away from life. Rishikesh, the land of tranquillity, saw a commotion from thousands of visitors each day. Bhairav was sitting quietly on the edge of the cantilever of an old structure that stood tall offering a picturesque panorama of Mohan-Chatti village, fifteen kilometres away from Lakshman Jhula, the heart of Rishikesh.

Though Bhairav was an acrophobic thirty-year-old, today his senses were too numb, from a December morning chill, to experience the phobia. As he sat on the metallic edge, deeply contemplating his life, the distant ripples of the river, eighty-three meters below him weren't loud enough to disturb him. When he looked down the cantilever, everything was so small that he could actually see the entire Mohan-Chatti village from up there. In this village, there stood thousands of people spread around like ants. The people below him and fuss they created about their trivial problems, everything seemed just vague from up there.

"Sir, may I help you with anything? You seem so depressed about something?" His contemplations drew end as he was jolted back to reality by a stern voice behind him.

"Stay back!" he sprung up. "I said stay back. Give me some time. I am not going anywhere. And I am warning you, do not dare come near me" he turned his back to the man once again. And he continued with his introspection, which brought tears to his eyes. He fought hard as he tried to hold them back.

He looked down from the cantilever again. Maybe his friend, Shahid, was somewhere down there in that crowd of ant-sized people. Maybe he was frenzied by now. Maybe he was searching for him. Maybe he had even filed a missing case for Bhairav with the local police.

He suddenly started crying out loud, almost involuntarily. He thought of all those times he had failed to make his parents proud. Times when he failed to be a good son, a good friend, a good boyfriend and a good person, all sprung up in his mind. Everyone he knew had almost called him a coward at some point of his life. And why not? He had been a coward up until now.

He didn't know the reason why he was suddenly crying out so loud. Was it the jolting from his deep contemplations, was it the remorse of an ordinary life that he had spent all these years, or was it just his phobia taking over him as always with his numbness finally drawing aside.

He couldn't take a chance again. He had to finish this fast, for once and for all. He needed to free himself forever and this was his last chance. The bells of a distant Mahadev Mandir sounded different today, more like the death knells. Yes, he was afraid.

He looked down one more time, heaved himself up on his heels, and tilted forward. The gravity was about to do the rest.

There was again that same voice from behind, "Sir! Shall I help you with something?" but it was already late. Gravity isn't as indolent as human beings.

Soon after the fall, Bhairav began to descend like a frenzied missile. Cutting through a gushing stream of wind, he was falling down each moment with an acceleration of about ten meters per second squared. His speed increased every second with the fall. Such was the beauty of acceleration. With his head down and feet up and the wind ripping through his hair, he saw the ground approaching him, getting bigger each second.

After having fallen for a good few seconds all his anxieties had now subsided. All his phobia and nervousness disappeared eventually, very much like the calm before a storm!

And suddenly, he came to a halt!

The bungee had finally stretched to its limit as Bhairav felt a pull on his stomach. He was now ready to move up once again and prepare for another adrenaline rush.

As the session finally ended with Bhairav riding his way back up to the cantilever one last time, he looked down, he looked up and then looking all around he shouted at the top of his voice, "WOOOOO HOOOOO. I did it. I am not a coward. YAAAAAAAAY." He shouted at the top of his voice, the sounds of which echoed far and wide in the valley.

Sometimes it is wise, not to run away from the things you fear. In fact, sometimes, running towards the things that you fear is the only way to conquer them. And Bhairav didn't just run. He accelerated towards his fears.