How stories unfolding around you are clues to find where you are going
Life breezes past in a blur of activity. Projects to manage, deadlines to meet, clients to please, a zillion To-dos — but the list is not endless….. for it stops at drop dead. So it ends, oh yes, it definitely ends.
How stories unfolding around you are clues to find where you are going. Look for them.
At times you are enjoying the journey of life in the course of your work. At other times, you are striving to stay afloat.
All this while, your mind (because it has a mind of its own), is having a merry time. Snatching at bits and pieces of sanity that we seem have disconnected from. They abruptly bring you to ground zero.
It is beyond me to imagine how it is orchestrated so well. When you seem derailed from the groove, fate gets you to touch base and how!
Let’s call him K.
He is roughly my age, give or take a couple years. The gym we work out at was the only common thing we shared. Our workout time was different and we hardly met. There was a common interest I shared with K though, due to which I had a chance to interact with him.
I met K for the first time when we were making our way up the Torna fort. We interacted during this arduous trek in the Sahyadris. He is an amicable person to talk to and was by my side through the climb. His sister younger was accompanying him on this trek. We interacted more with her.
After that, our interaction was limited to ‘HIs’ and ‘Hellos’. Over time we found small detail about each other; school, college, interests, workouts and of course, treks. Eventually K let on that he was keen on rock climbing and was taking training for the same. His love for the sport was very obvious. This became a topic of discussion between us on and off. He shared exploits of challenges he took on. He described various techniques he was mastering to be able to make it big in rock climbing.
One day K announced his intention to go to Jaipur and so some climb thereabouts. That area attracts lots of rock climbers and is considered challenging. K had some friends who would go along on his 20 day expedition. I wished him luck and insisted that he share his photos when he came back. We parted on this note.
Thereafter I did not see K for a couple of months. I assumed he was busy helping in his father business or he had changed gyms.
Inquiries at the gym’s office confirmed that he was not working out here any more. Eventually, K slipped from my mind. We had no common friends, and our interaction was not thick enough for me to follow it up.
Six months after I last met K, I heard that he had met with an accident while rock climbing in Jaipur. He had been comatose ever since. The person who passed me this information had no more news to share.
It was a shock to me. I could only image the plight of K’s family. There he was, a lad about my age, lying in a vegetative state with no hopes of recovery. His most favourite sport in the world had extracted a huge cost. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t know whether he had survived the ordeal or died fighting.
Strange are the ways of fate though. When you least expect it, a hard, nail biting finish comes your way and thrills you to the very core.
A week ago, I thought I saw a healthy apparition of K running towards me at the gym. I blamed it on my drowsiness. I had been especially sleepy that night and had to drag myself out of bed. The apparition was for real though and I was wide awake in an instant. Stunned actually! It was SUCH a pleasure to see him!
As soon as he reached my side, he held out his hand for a handshake. He recognized me? I lost the ability to respond for a while. Not before he said my name a couple of times did I recover enough to return the handshake. And about his well being.
K has made an astounding recovery after his mishap. He remained comatose and in therapy for more than a year.
Now, he is physically unscathed. His head injury though has permanently affected his ability to converse logically. There are major disconnects in his thoughts and expressions. Remarkably, he has excellent long term memory and recalls our trek with fondness.
Now, he works out with gym instructors who understand his limitations. He wants to grow his hair long and wants to visit his sister in Australia, where she has settled after marriage. Rock climbing remains his one and only favourite activity to this day.
How long and well did I know K? How much did having or not having him in my life matter? The answer to both questions is — very little. Then why did it make such a difference to my day? Why did it get me thinking about where I was going?
I think I know the answers to that.
