Going away from her conventional choice of places, staring back at her fear, feeling the adrenaline rush, Shubhasree Purkayastha embarked on a journey without any fear and regrets..
Once upon a time, I was a very picky traveller. I would only visit a place if it completely appealed to me, which meant it always ended up being a place with some historical significance. Coincidently, I have never had a dearth of people who would accompany me on these trips, be it family or friends.
Hence, it had always been this way – me picking out a place with some important historic story attached to it, usually in the remotest corners of the country and preferably with a museum (Yes, I know what I sound like right now…).
So when I received the concept note for this edition of the magazine, I began to think of all the other experiences that I have had which might make it to the theme of “overcoming your fears and emerging victorious”.
There are so many such incidents from our everyday lives – attending a friend’s birthday party who is also friends with your recently broken-up Ex, but really not caring after a while because you are too busy having fun, or making excuses at a Karaoke Club but ended up singing song-after-song at the sorest of your voice.
In days like these, I have felt extremely awkward and uncomfortable initially. But the trick is to let go, and it has always ended on a good note. Touchwood.
Years ago on a similar day, during a vacation from school, a group of us decided to spend a day at an adventure park in West Delhi. I was never a fan of adventure parks. I have vertigo and I get air-sickness in flights. So when this was decided, I agreed to join thinking I was going to spend the time sitting on a bench, eating candy-floss and waving at my friends from below.
Little did I know that my plans were going to be altered in ways more than one. For starters, the entry itself to the park cost me a fortune (Although they did come with the benefit of trying out every ride as many times as one likes). We were still living on pocket money, and I could not afford luxuries.
After paying so much, it sounded insane to enter only for candy floss. So I wondered, “Oh well, I could get on the smaller rides, the ones more closer to ground level…like the boat attached to a huge knot that rocks back and forth, or those really slow moving swings that rotate in a merry-go-round?”
So, as my friends went yelling and yelping on rides with names like “Twisters” and “360 degrees Roller-Coasters”, I sucked at my pink candy floss, and went round in circles at the speed of 0.99 m/min.
After getting down from one such “exciting” swings, I was looking for my friends when I saw a 10-year old sitting alongside them in one of the Twisters, grinning and impatiently waiting for the ride to get started. My friend waved at me, and acted out the line “Look-at-the-guts-of-this-one” in sign language.
“That is it!” I thought, “This is not happening. If that kid could do it, so can I.”
I went to the nearest roller-coaster, showed the man my ticket and grabbed a seat. This one, incidentally, was a special one where it ended with a splash right into the pool of water. In time, the belts and the grips came down and we were all buckled and set. The ride began to move – up towards the slope.
“This isn’t so bad”, I heard myself thinking, “It’s a great view from up here – clear blue sky, the sunset…”
And then, the coaster sprinted down!
I remember nothing more than the heavy gush of air on my face, an unstoppable yell escaping my throat and the constant twists and turns of the track. I don’t remember what was around me, because my eyes were closed the entire time. And then, finally, a giant splash. And a stop.
When I opened my eyes, my clothes were wet, I was half submerged in water and my head was reeling.
People around me were unbuckling and getting out of the coaster – laughing and chattering. I took a moment. Got out. Dried myself for a while.
And I heard myself telling my friends, “Let’s do this again!”
This time, my eyes were open. I was screaming and laughing at the top of my voice as were the others, but I wanted to see everything around me – the funny faces people made, the scenery swishing by me like an Impressionist painting that has been made to move very fast on a reel, and the final moments before we hit the water – looking down at the impending collision and the excitement of just doing that, actually wanting to collide, and diving right into the pool.
And then the splash, and oh! What delight!
Contrary to what I had been assuming all these years, I realised that I actually enjoy the adrenaline rush that these rides provided one.
I spent that evening getting on every ride present in that park- twice! We left only when the place had completely shut down and we had to be driven out by the security guards.
That experience ages ago at the adventure park made me conquer one of my fears and helped me know a bit more of myself. I realised I enjoyed adventure sports as much as cultural and historic sites. Since then, I have visited that same park umpteen number of times, and have found myself river rafting, parasailing, and mountain climbing, along with looking at the sunset from the Khajuraho Temples or admiring the paintings at Ajanta. And what’s more, the list goes on.
This was not a travel experience per se. But it did help me overcome a certain drawback about myself, however minor it might sound.
While on my way back that night, all of us high on adrenaline and excitement, chatting about how much fun it was and how we should do this again, I looked back at the day. What If I had never gotten into that first ride at all? I would have never known that I enjoyed them so much, and would have actually spent the day napping on the park bench.
That evening, I did not have any regrets.
It was a life lesson that I still follow – to live without regrets.
