Monday, July 12, 2010

Nostalgia in a fall

When was the last time I fell down before this? Hmmm... 2001 after my quarterly exam results, I was cycling back home when my friend crashed into me on the kotturpuram bridge and I fell down and encountered a green stick buckle fracture in my right arm. I rode the cycle back, single handed before I went to the doctor for the casting. Escaped a good trashing for my poor results!!

After nearly 10 year, it was today, during horse riding. Though there was no physical injury, this fall brought back a lot of memories. Last weekend, my instructor was pleased with my body language during riding and she said, next week, we start with galloping. That already had my adrenaline rushing. I was mentally prepared this week, to encounter the muscular beast and reign my command over it even during galloping. Reading and watching videos cannot prepare you for what I encountered today!

I started with the walk, then the trot to find the proper seating position and now the instructor said, ready to gallop?! Of course was my spontaneous response. Ok, left leg should kick the horse, right leg should be a little behind the usual position and power forward with your knees was the instruction. The next instant the horse started to gallop. 40 Mph and in circles. The centripetal force was too much. Too many instructions and the instructor was repeating, bend your body back, back, back, power with knees, good, go on, faster! Everything was a blur. The blood flow to my brains was tremendous, I could hear my heart beat and I was losing balance. Managed to stay put during the first two trials, though my seat was slipping! The third time, I was determined to make the instructor proud. I am going to bend my body back, I told myself. Patting the horse friendly, I started with the trot and then, kick with the left leg, right leg behind and he was galloping. A desperate attempt to bend my body back and I knew I was falling. Not a single thought in my mind. It was like one of those slow motions they show in Matrix, when Neo jumps up before the kick, but it was that instant. The next instant I was on the ground. Thrown from the horse from a height of 2 meters and when galloping at a speed of 30 plus miles per hour! My legs were shaking when I got up, with a smile on my face! My instructor was also smiling, now you know how it is and now you will not make a mistake! Get back on the horse now, it should not feel you are afraid. Now I rode him alone, without the instructor holding the string. It felt majestic!

After so many years I fell down. A travel back to childhood when you constantly fall down when you learn. You get up, and get going. I felt just the same. But I missed my mother. Back then, when I used to come home with a hurt knee, it was a scolding first and then the dettol cleansing. Unmatchable care. Nostalgia in a fall!

7 comments:

Lakshmi said...

Bravo.. many a fall, great will be the RISE. Unless you make mistakes in a learning, you will miss some fun in the whole process. Now your riding lessons are complete flawless.
I thoroughly enjoyed the narration and it brought lots of laughter out of imagining the scene...
:)

BaLA said...

Dei.. dont forgot those days when we fell about 20 times in that hard snow bed in wintersberg.. dont forget our skiing days dude.. this is not ur second fall.. may be 22nd fall in these years

BaLA said...
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Anonymous said...

Bala, I ve also blogged about our winterberg da :-) But totally different context of falls !!

Elamparithi Jayamani said...
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Elamparithi Jayamani said...

machi...y don't u visit marburg ...so that u can train to ride long distance :P

Nithya said...

I second Lakshmi. Its worth a ride only when you experience a fall too. :)

Its so nostalgic to me too. I am such a acci-pro person who falls now and then with my scooty. Ones even right under anna flyover after a bad crash and asked my pillion if I was still alive ;)

Good narration and the choice of pics are really funny ;)Is it you in the left pic???