The best opportunites in life, are truly those, that spring a surprise and blow you away like Mt Vesuvius blew away Pompeii. 'Knock knock' 'Who is it?''Surprise!' KABLAOAAAMMM.
The following piece of writing is testimony to this very phenomenon.
The following piece of writing is testimony to this very phenomenon.
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| Really Pretty Vienna |
Vienna, the capital of Austria, is a city of Parks, Gardens & magnificent Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Probably one of the most eye-ball-popping-beautiful cities ever built by mortal hands.
So here we were, in Vienna, Austria this summer, my friends and me, on another awesome weekend adventure. Our aimless trolling lead us to all sorts of brilliant places, that totally made our jaws drop in AWE, which I'm pretty sure is how most guys (and some women) react when they see Megan Fox in a swimsuit or less. Anyway.
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| Danube Tower by night. Notice the leap off ramp. |
So somewhere in Vienna, along the Wien river, is this really tall tower called the Danube tower, which is a pretty cool place to hang out. And what's EVEN cooler about this Star-Wars reminiscent tower, is that every few minutes, you can see someone falling off of the top, with absolute disregard for reason & rationality, and a rope bound to the ankles.
There is just something about jumping off a building into the vast emptiness beneath your feet that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on edge. Call it Bungy, Bunji, Le Benji or plain suicide practice, Bungee jumping is one BAD-ASS sport. One slight drawback, however, is that it's freakishly expensive, so you may have to additionally part with a lot of moolah apart from your sanity.
Well, I was, as lady luck would have it, standing below this 500-odd-foot tall tower, looking up at the periodic hollering of crazy people falling off. And then my rebellious evil twin had an evil idea... My evil twin had a brilliant idea... My evil twin had a brilliantly evil idea... Meh. when YOUR evil twin has an idea THIS insane, you won't be able to resist it either...
DiCaprio, in inception said something on these lines:
“What’s the most resilient parasite? An Idea."
Heh. This time, my evil twin had IDEA alright, a parasite more resilient than the bloody Common Flu Virus. And me? I stole it from him.
There is just something about jumping off a building into the vast emptiness beneath your feet that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on edge. Call it Bungy, Bunji, Le Benji or plain suicide practice, Bungee jumping is one BAD-ASS sport. One slight drawback, however, is that it's freakishly expensive, so you may have to additionally part with a lot of moolah apart from your sanity.
Well, I was, as lady luck would have it, standing below this 500-odd-foot tall tower, looking up at the periodic hollering of crazy people falling off. And then my rebellious evil twin had an evil idea... My evil twin had a brilliant idea... My evil twin had a brilliantly evil idea... Meh. when YOUR evil twin has an idea THIS insane, you won't be able to resist it either...
DiCaprio, in inception said something on these lines:
“What’s the most resilient parasite? An Idea."
Heh. This time, my evil twin had IDEA alright, a parasite more resilient than the bloody Common Flu Virus. And me? I stole it from him.
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| A view from the top of the tower. |
So I go up to the counter, empty my pockets, and forfeit my sanity. A four minute elevator ride later, I stand in line, awaiting my turn to jump off, on the observation deck of the tower. Five HUNDRED feet higher than where i stood earlier, and I dare say it looks WAY higher from up here. I can see the entire city from up here, with the river snaking through it. I can even see the little hamlets and windmills on its outskirts, that is how FREAKISHLY high it is. It's about Six in the evening..
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| Another view from top. |
I can see the Sun beginning to wind down the day. The wind is strong and cool, similar to what one encounters in an open top convertible on a freeway. The adrenaline in me soars so high, I bet I could supply a little hospital enough to keep a couple of patients alive. At that moment, however, fear is definitely not an emotion in my head.
My turn arrives, and I walk out to the ramp, which is cantilevered to the side of the tower. As the crew on top attach the harness to me and the rope to my ankles, I can see people the size of pin-heads standing below. I stand RIGHT on the edge, as the crew take away the safety measures meant to keep me from accidentally tumbling five hundred feet, and I'd be lying if I said I ain't scared. Haha. Even my evil twin recedes into his crevice like a scared little cat. From here on, I'm on my own. The crew counts down from Five.. Four.. Three.. Two.. One.... and then silence. "Ah, what the heck", I think out loud, taking a breath, and then diving off the edge.
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| Yes, that IS me jumping, and I'd hate to stop bragging about it. |
The wind screams at my face, chokes my incessant urge to scream out in a mixture of fear & utter awesome exhilaration. Free-fall. There is NO feeling that comes even CLOSE to free fall. Free-fall is true freedom embodied in its most awesome 4x4 package. I think to myself, as I remember distinctly, "So THIS is how it feels!". In a few hundred miliseconds, I see the city of Vienna fall toward me.. in those few miliseconds I feel I've lived longer than I have in the past 20 years. It lasts for a couple of seconds, and then I feel the huge reactive tug of the long-forgotten bungee rope on my ankles.
