THE EPIC BATTLE
By: Sagaree Oak
Tags: Fun, Experience, Life Lessons, Life, Philosophy Of Mind

It is a story of a control freak who wants to keep her life under control assessing all the risks in advance so that the life would be less fearful with few surprises. That sounds pretty formal, I know. But hang on till the end, the story is hilarious.

So the story begins today, the day I could never have imagined coming in my life…not only because it was the first time I was skiing but also it was the first time I was nervous about losing control on my own shit. And this attitude, my friends, adds a bit of spice in my epic battle with ‘the ski’.

Great War commenced right from the first sight of those heavy composite shoes with over 1kg of material weight and over 10kg weight of my nervousness, heavier with the actual ski, putting on another kg.

Lesson 1, How to manage those metallic clicks! Check.

Lesson 2, How to stick to your grounds, I mean literally, without feeling your humanly instinctive means of walking; your feet! Check.

Lesson 3, How to bloody walk without standing straight & holding yourself off ground with supporting sticks while ski in your hand is already ready to knock you down! Check.

Now you march ahead in the field. Time to get out of the renting place and face the real world with a stinging comprehension of the fact that even a 5 year old is much more comfortable with this alien equipment than your adult self! Trust me, you are already devastated.

Once you adjust yourself with this harsh reality, the real war begins. How not to slide when you don’t want to especially when your gear is really keen on taking you full ahead in a speed you wouldn’t agree to go in your current miserable situation. That leads to the subsequent complexity, how to get back on when you already have crashed at the very first step! There your expert skiing partner comes very handy to try to make you feel a bit more comfortable with all the awkwardness already killing you.

Now miraculously enough, you are on your feet again, ready to crash one more time and one more! Well, this will continue till the end of this post.

Somehow you manage to reach a flat surface to practice on; not to mention the consistent feeling that you are going straight down the ditch nearby or knocking down some innocent skier minding her own business! Still, with god’s grace you reach the plateau presenting with an another challenge; the challenge of acknowledging the truth that your legs and arms aren’t strong enough anymore to support you after helping you lift from your past 20 falls. Yet you move on with the remaining strength you have and you learn some basics from your friend, an expert but thoroughly exasperated friend who has absolutely no clue how to keep you on the ground without knocking himself down.

Moving further; basics learnt with reasonably acceptable progress till the time you crash again by IMAGINING crashing on a 5 year old skiing perfectly, exactly in front of you! Side effects of having great imagination, you curse yourself for that too on such occasion!

This public entertainment session continues. Just few hours of ‘practice’ makes you realise how many muscles and joints you have injured and exhausted till now BUT you manage to continue. This time with less emotional struggle; only till the point you come to face an ascent mocking you as you couldn’t go forward because your equipment is gliding you backwards showing tremendous job efficiency. Well you are strong minded so you cross it facing a same mockery while coming back, this time crashing you straight on your face because of course its gravity at its best!!

Do you remember my poor expert friend? Apparently, he returns from his mountain skiing session and takes you to the children section to practice. Obviously, you have to ignore the silly thing called yourself who is just 25 years older than the general population in this area! So of course you go, eager to have another hilarious experience and indeed you don’t disappoint anybody because you have already touched the ground once again, lost your control, once again and unable to stand on your feet, once again! The friend is still wondering how to deal with you in a most polite way. Finally both the fallen and the saviour decide to call it a day. A wise decision indeed!

Now that your body and your mind is cursing you for being adventurous, you got to take your equipment back to the place where it came from making you walk all the way up there; not to mention without complaining! Luckily your benign and sympathetic friend takes the load of equipment for you and now it’s just you, you have to carry!

While walking, wondering, it wasn’t easy but was worth all the trouble. Why? For the only reason, that it was a part of a new, extraordinary learning experience which helps you be a better person in some way, a better warrior may be. We all are fighting our own battles and such occasions remind you of the fibre you are made of. Most of all, prompting you live little more than you think you could and be kind to yourself in this process. Making you even more eager to go for the next one!