Fearless!!

As a child I ventured into many adventures that could well be termed bizarre..

One such occurrence was narrated by my mom recently.. I had just learnt to walk, after months of toddling around. The three most common actions you will find toddlers do, when you give them an object 1.) some just gape at it with saliva dangling from their mouth 2) some instantaneously take it to their mouth 3) some just fling the thing away as far as they could.. I was the third type. So when my mother handed me an emptied bottle, instinctively I let it fly from my house balcony. The bottle landed perilously close to a small monkey near a tree in front of our house. This enraged the bigger mother monkey.. The big monkey walked boisterously towards me and took hold of my shirt. The close proximity of the big beast made me scream my lungs out in terror. Neighbors came running armed with sticks and tree branches to rescue me from the big monkey. Just goes to show how a child can stand in the eye of the storm without batting an eye-lid. When the big monkey approached me, I faced it fearlessly. But once it wrested its hands on my shirt (my possession) , I just couldn’t digest it and let out a loud scream.. Typical childishness!!!

An Impossible Sprint???

i still vividly remember the day . I was in my 6th class. it was mid october when we had our school sports meet. The sun was scorching the already dry ground. it was the day when the track and field events were conducted. even at an early age i fancied myself as a good sprinter. But before that eventful day,never once did i put these skills to test in the field. So i joined the line-up for the 100 metres sprint with quiet optimism. The atmosphere around the tracks was hotting up with all sorts of murmurs flying around. Already the word was out that there was this giant of a guy , (atleast a couple of years elder than me) who would win all the sprint events without breaking a sweat. The crowd believed nobody stood a chance against this giant. i could feel the moral of my fellow competitors droop. I reinforced myself that mere words were not going to beat me. when it came to sports, even in those early days, i had a gumption in me "Nobody was going to beat me easily". Everything was in readiness for sprint.. the 100 meter sprint is the most glamorous track and field event.. onlookers had crowded alongside the tracks to catch a glimpse of the event.. I (the under dog)was to run in Lane 4. The giant guy ,( the favourite) was in Lane 3. Moments before the race, i was warming up in my lane, when i felt the enormity of the situation in front of me. Standing alongside me warming up in Lane 3 was a guy who was atleast a foot taller than me with a fully toned athletic physique. A thought crossed my mind "How am i going to beat this guys long strides with my short strides?". But the next moment, i refocussed my mind back to the job in hand, that is to sprint as fast as my feet could carry me.. The Whistle blew.. The Sprint was on.. I had a dream start and was off the blocks in a flash.. For the next 13 seconds,with my heart pounding vigourously and legs pumping vehemently , i sprinted as swiftly as i could to reach the red tape at the other end before others. When i was about to touch the tape i heard a loud roar from the crowd. For a moment i thought the reason for the roar was the crowd favourite had in fact won the race. I had a glimpse behind, the moment i touched the tape. It was then that i felt the stunning reality of having won the sprint. I had beat my competitors quite comfortably. The giant guy next to my lane was atleast 3 metres behind me at the finishing line. The crowd roared their appreciation. The giant guy was the first person to come up to congratulate me. i will never forget the compliment and the moment for my entire life. The appreciation i got from a fellow competitor was the best compliment i could get. It felt like i was on top of the world. there were innumerable handshakes and pats on the back.. in the same year i went on to win the 200 meter sprint, long jump, the 4*100 and 4*200 meter relays. the icing on the cake was i won the championship at junior level and our house won the overallchampionship. since then i managed to win quite a few sprints at school .. But this 100 meter sprint will be etched in my memory forever for the circumstances surrounding it...