Overcoming Fear

Hello Reader,

I always had a fear of deep water bodies. I, most of the times, tried to avoid the outings which included boat rides. This realisation began, as I can remember, when in my early childhood days, we went to a sea beach at Vishakhapatnam. As I put my feet into the water and the sand beneath my feet started to move giving me a frightening feeling of being dragged by the waves into the deep blue sea, I knew that it was not my habitat.

I have another childhood memory of a boat ride at a pond in a botanical park and I can only remember myself crying all along the ride. I cried and cried until we reached the shore.

On top of that, Titanic was the first Hollywood movie I ever watched and each time I boarded a boat or a ferry, I visualized the ship wrecking scene and all I could think of was water getting filled into the boat’s body through a hole at the bottom and sinking the boat, drowning me into the water, where alligators would be waiting to feed upon me.

As I grew old, I tried my best to fight this fear out of me. I did little experiments by soaking my head into bucket full of water in the bathroomand holding my breath, taking various rides in water parks and visiting swimming pools. And my fear was slowly fading away.

Then began a series of outings where I would not think a moment to dive into the same water bodies I once thought were my enemies.

In our college trip to Goa, of all the other amazing activities, the one where I felt one hundred per cent alive was in the Dolphin ride, for which we took a Motor ferry. After going on for almost half an hour, into the sea, we reached a place from where all you could only see through your eye’s panorama was water. The engines were stopped for quite a long time and the ferry floated in that silent ambience and the turbulent waves kept hitting the ferry’s outer body. And at that moment, all the fear eloped. There was no escape anyways. I had moist eyes, not out of fright but for making it there, for playing with the same water I once feared and for finding peace within myself.

A similar, little more adventurous experience was on a trip to Shivanasamudra, a place near Bangalore, famous for the waterfalls. Here, to cross the river, circular, cup shaped boats called ‘coracle’ are available, which look really unsafe.  Thick ropes are placed along the route which the boat man takes, so that it can be held to avoid the rapids while rowing along the river Cauvery. It was an amazing experience, as the boat man rows over a depth of about 300 ft., very near to the waterfalls, surrounded by flora and fauna, lush green trees and rocky hills, where you feel very close to the nature as it is and where the water actually falls upon you.

And now, I can proudly say that I do not have fear of the water bodies or the boat rides. After many such experiences, you just want to keep adding more to your list. My recent travel to Rishikesh and camping there on the banks, by the river Ganges was another amazing venture. I would like to share a small video from this trip which was again a small tryst of mine with the fear and I guess it went pretty well.

And I would like to share a quote from Hermann Hesse’s book ‘Siddhartha’: The River is everywhere.

After reading this book, especially the part where the protagonist makes amicable relation with the river, which is a metaphor for life and tells us that no matter what, life keeps on flowing. Ever since, I have an urge to try out adventures like rafting, deep sea diving and they make it on to my bucket list. Overcoming fear in life is very important. It is one of the biggest hurdles in trying out anything new. And once you know how to face it and fight it out, you win.


Because Darr ke Aage jeet hai.

-Ashish

Thakyou IndiBlogger

and Mountain Dew India

for this prompt


Image Courtesy Link: http://travel.sulekha.com/shivanasamudra-falls_travelogue_2715