So, here is another post from me in the bad times of mine. At least it makes me light when I share my mind with my Blog. And today, I would like to share few moments of my life which I cannot forget. Right from my childhood days, to till now, there have been some events which are still fresh in my mind. They gave me amazing experiences, some good and some bad. So, here am I to share them with you one by one.
India (Gate) Topper:
No way. If you are thinking that I ever topped in any national level exam, then buddy, you are dreaming. I know it’s kinda funny. Hehe... So I’ll tell you to focus on the word in the braces. Yes, now you are right. Yes I am an India Gate topper and that too twice. I mean I’ve gone to the top of the India Gate twice. Most of you would have been there many times, orbiting around the great monument. But I got chance to explore the interiors of the same a couple of my times. It dates back to some 11 years ago from now. My dad was posted at the Vayu Bhawan, the Air Headquarters of the Indian Air Force. And that was the place from where the personnel‘s were sent for the duty of guarding the monument. The duty was rotated between Air Force, Army and Navy every four months, covering the entire calendar year. So when my dad got his turn for the first time, as a family member, I got a chance to explore the India Gate from inside. Voila, it was so titanic from inside, just like a 6 floor MIG apartment. Though it looks like blocks of huge a stone piled up from outside, it is very spacious from inside, enough to accommodate 25-30 families. When I started to count the stairs, it crossed 300 mark. Hope I lost at least few hundreds of calories that day. Crossing each stair, I reached the top floor then on its roof. I could see most of the Delhi from there. But what fascinated me the most were the amazing residents of the building. When I went there for the first time, throughout the stairs all I could see were the nests of pigeons, their eggs, chicks, shits, twigs, etc. And the second time I visited there, the monuments was taken over by hundreds of bats. God, it was like a nightmare. At the ground floor, there were array of LPG cylinders, at least 16 of them on the both sides of the entrance which fuelled the Amar Jawan Jyoti 24X7. It also had rooms for the security guards to sleep. Truly, it was an amazing experience for me both of the times to go there. Whenever I see that monuments on T.V. or newspapers, I still feel I’m on the top of it, again.
The Hissssssss:
Sounds creepy? Yes it is, as this experience relates me to the ordeal with a 3 foot brown cobra. This happened around 6 years back when I was in Chennai. We had a rich garden behind our house full of fruitful plants and lush green trees. It also had a big lemon tree which gave us quintals of lemon every year. And at the root of it, there was a burrow of a couple of cobra snakes. Though we rarely saw them, one day one of them entered somehow in our house. I was in the other room then. My mom was going from other room to the kitchen when she realized that there is a hooded creature staring at her in the pathway. She got frightened and ran outside the home calling for help. This was when I came out of my room to help her out. Inspired by the Steve Irwin show and many such similar ones on the Discovery channel and Animal Planet, I was very excited for trying my hands on the snake. I came out of the room with the steel rod making my mind not to kill the devotee of the lord Shiva. The cobra was trying to crawl towards the kitchen. When it felt the vibrations of my footsteps, it started waving with its head in air and its hood on, hissing. Though I was too thrilled, but there was no stepping back from my side. I somehow took that rod, and marched towards the snake as if it was a battle of species. When I placed the rod on the snakes head, it started swiveling rapidly. Without losing my cool, I pressed its head on the floor. But it was still scary. I went close to it and caught its slippery head tightly in my hand. The cobra curled its entire body on my hand and started pressing it tightly, but after all, it was a cobra, not a python. Finally, I took a deep breath and smiled as I was still alive. Hehe... When I came out of the house with the cobra in my hand, my mom got shocked thinking I might have been bitten by it. But I told her what all happened to calm her down. Now it was time to get rid on the snake. So, I went to the small park which was far away from my home and freed the cobra there. The park was less often visited by people so it was safe to release the snake there. But the hissing cobra gave me a thrilling experience and I hope to take control of a python some day. Hehe...
Countless Deaths:
This too happened when I was in Chennai, in year 2004. One fine morning, I went to a bakery shop to buy breads. I met a friend of mine there. “Hey, did you hear? 100 persons died on Marina beach today.” He said with strange expressions on his face. I thought what bullshit this guy is talking. I went to my home and took my breakfast. My dad said he felt like earthquake when he was sleeping. After some time, I switched on the idiot box and started swapping the channels. When I paused on the news channel, I got shocked. What I heard from the guy in the morning was true! And oh my god, not 100, but the toll went in thousands. Most of the east coast of India, the Andaman islands, Malaysia, Thailand, Somali, Philippines and many others countries were affected by a natural disaster which they termed as Tsunami. To see the situation myself, I went to the Marina beach and what I saw was horrible. Countless dead bodies were being taken away on trucks, rickshaws, autos, and people screaming here and there, everything was like a nightmare. The beach where I used to play volleyball was covered with water, debris and dead bodies. The ocean water broke its limits and came till the road and even touched the building there like the Madras University and Presidency College. Thank god, it was early Sunday morning else the toll would have gone much higher. The entire Air Force Station at Karnik, Andaman, got washed away in the disaster, killing at least 200 personnel of IAF and their family members. The entire world lost more than 3 million people on that day due to Tsunami.
I’ll tell you more such events, which made an impact on my life, in the second part of this post. So, keep reading...
