BUNGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!

700 BUCKS????!!! That is the first question that came to my mind when i first heard of bungee jumping at chennai. But it was an opprtunity that i wld not have got again. So me an 2 of my friends (They call him "blojick" in the blogworld) made our way to YMCA grounds - the site of the event...
... The sight was scary.



You have this huge crane with a small box like enclosure attached to it. The sort of arrangement which escape artists use to lift them up or lower them into the sea etc. When we reached, we were watching another participant dangling upside down like a pendulum...that seemed interesting - and uncomfortable. But still yaar - darna kya? you have all kinds of safety measures(which adhere to some German TUV standards) So when my turn came, i was all smiles and oozing out confidence! They dressed me up in the gear and i stepped into the box enclosure with the guide, and the box began to move up with me facing the inside of the box. After i reached up, the guide gave me last minutes instructions and told me to turn around............

IT IS THEN THAT IT STRIKES YOU. The height is 145 feet(equal to a seven floor building) and the people seem like ants from that height. You cant make out your frends on whose cheering you had been counting on. The elastic rope to which your ankles are tied,comes up from a hole at the centre of the box's floor. So you cant see the rest of the rope(since it is directly below the box) You feel as if you are all alone , in mid air with no support(that is visible) , no 'wall' below, looking down at the ground far below and people expect you to JUMP ! I was holding the side bars and leaning out. "Why did i do this? How can i jump from here? Will the jerk be too nasty? How can i leave the side bars? German TUV standards my foot! How can i trust the safety rope, safety harness if i cant even SEE it directly?? !! I dont even know WHAT TO EXPECT!!!!...."

'Yes , you can go ahead and jump! leave the side bars' - that was the guides voice egging me on.

I dont know when it happened, but the next moment i was off the box, my eyes tightly shut. I had made the jump!! now there was no turning back!

Then it was time for the zero gravity experience. You feel as if you are fainting or drugged! ABSOLUTELY weightless...its like a babys first experience...your brain has never experienced such a feeling before and doesnt know how to respond. It goes into a tizzy , utterly confused and at he same time each and every part of your body is trying to 'identify' the first time feeling. .....Then comes the JERK.

I opened my eyes only then to find the whole world turned over.! My brain was trying to adjust itself when the world turned over again...i could see the ground below me, above me as well as FACING me! By this time, Your brain gives up and you too come to know that the dangers over. The last few seconds are bliss - looking at the world in a way you have never done before(literally!) , your eyes trying to pop out of their sockets, the blood rushing to your head, your brain making yet another desperate attempt to recollect the 'new' feeling and trying to associate it with some past experience. Meanwhile you are being slowly lowered to the ground to reach the grounnd safely.

And finally you conclude: "the experience was wort every penny!!"