Late afternoon today the gods opened the floodgates of heaven and let out a steady shower of blessings. The trees bathed head to toe in the rain. Gentle breeze wafted through and the coconut palms swayed to their lilting music. My thoughts wandered into the hinterland. But before long the clouds darkened and spread its tentacles all around.
As if responding to the change in climate, my heart sunk and eyes swelled with tears. Deja vu? It struck me instantly that I had survived a near death experience.
I was in my first year graduation when disaster struck. It had rained heavily the previous night and flooded many houses in the low lying areas of my neighborhood. When I woke up in the morning and stepped out into the balcony, my feet sunk into knee-deep water. The water level was only few inches below the doorstep. The drainage pipe that carries water from the first floor balcony to the ground beneath had clogged with dirt. I used a long iron rod to flush out the water. The puddle yielded to my relentless shoving and the water gushed out. But the flood water refused to go entirely. The pipe was full again and something inside it was stopping water flow. For a moment it seemed like gravity was acting in the wrong direction.
I was standing close to the parapet wall and the balcony still had an inch or two of rain water left. I realized from my vantage point that the drainage pipe ends on the cemented sun shade a couple of feet below. And the pipe on this sun shade was the culprit. I took the iron rod in my hand and stretched to reach the sunshade, while holding the parapet for support. The free end of the rod only reached the neck of the pipe even after I lifted myself on my toes. The floor was wet and slippery. When I tried to shove the rod one more time, things went awry. There was a thud on the ground. The iron rod had freed itself from my hands. For a couple of minutes, I did not know what was happening...
I found myself dangling from the railings on the parapet. You wont believe how happy and confused I was at that moment. Because about 25 feet below where I was hanging in mid air I could see loose, sharp granite stones unloaded for construction work. I am certain I would not have survived the fall! But I was still far from safety. And my hands were giving away under the weight of my body.
Meanwhile, I could see newspaper boys and milk vendors at the distance watching my predicament helplessly. Some of them were amused, I guess. They must have thought I do this regularly as part of my exercise regimen.
I wanted to shout for help but there was a lump in my throat. I could not risk turning around to pull myself up. I needed help, quickly. The passersby were outside the compound wall, which is at least 10 minutes away from my location, or they did not see me at all. Slowly a crowd was swelling in front of the apartment. They alerted the watchman.
Meanwhile, wondering why I am taking such a long time on the job, my dad came to inspect the progress of work. When he did not see me, he thought I had gone to the ground floor for fixing the pipe, maybe. But he did wisely to call out for me and spotted the watchman waving frantically in my direction. He came near the parapet wall and saw me dangling. He was shocked! He quickly regained composure, squatted on the balcony, and held my left hand firmly for support. My hands relaxed a bit and my body weight eased; I was able to turn sideways and lift my leg up. Meanwhile, dad called out for my brother. Both together pulled me out to safety. In the process I broke my chin.
I know it could have been worse!
