The Ride

I, like many other wives, am very much in love with my husband and like to be a true companion in all his endeavors. We have movie dates, play dates, shopping dates, cooking dates, dinner and lunch dates and of course travel dates (to office, to malls, grocery stores etc etc).There are times when I do not let him go anywhere and do anything alone. (ahh….. that explains a lot of things) But then let’s not talk about my possessive or satellite behavior here. Like I give him company in almost everything he does, when he decided to take the scary roller coaster ride in a fair in Dusseldorf, I couldn’t say no. I wanted to be a part of stories and discussions about the rides he would have with friends too. (I guess I need help with my omnipresence)

From the looks of it, it looked like a good cute ride with images from the world of circus. How scary can clowns and acrobats be anyways. After adorning the ‘ah it’s cool for me’ amour, I followed my husband to the ride. We sat and for a final security check a guy came. He pushed our seatbelt or lifesaver whatever it is called to ensure it was tight and firm. We were sitting with a bag which was pretty full. No, food is not the only thing we carry when we step out of home; the bag also had water bottle (water is pretty expensive in Germany), our raincoats (yes it pretty much can rain anytime in Germany), comb and some makeup (hair and makeup can be spoilt anytime in any part of the world). Because of the bag the seatbelt was not exploited to its full use but then how could we part away from our dear bag. We decided to take it along with us on the ride.

The ride started. Our screaming started. It was speed and spins. We screamed and enjoyed. And then……………. It started to spin and speed up further. I clutched my husband’s hand and he kept reminding me ‘Hold the seatbelt bar tightly’. If we fall now, I thought, we would forever be remembered as people who kept the safety of a bag before their own. What a sacrifice it would be!!!!!!!!

The torture of spinning and rotating didn’t end soon. We stopped screaming now. I was reciting the name of all Gods I knew and it turns out I knew a lot of them. I started to recall any news item which reported someone’s death on a roller coaster. Nothing came to my mind and of course the worst I thought wouldn’t happen because it had happened to no one ever. I closed my eyes and submitted myself to destiny. After some 45675534 minutes, the ride stopped. In some people’s watch it was just 5 minutes.

I got down and the seatbelt man came to me and asked ‘are you ok?’ I couldn’t see his face clearly but I tried to smile and said ‘ya’. My legs were shivering and everything was still moving for me. We sat down and my stomach was churning and I felt nauseous. These were the side effects of course but then the worst had passed. The ride was over.

I thanked gravity owing to which we are not able to experience the ongoing rotation and revolution of the earth all the time. I thanked the absence of cameras around otherwise I would have had very embarrassing photos while on ride. (Disneyland should read this. We had some really embarrassing ones there) and finally I thanked that fact that the fair was ending the next day and so would our trip to this scary land.

There is something however very interesting which happens to you when you feel you are going to die. Call it the influence from numerous movies and novels, but your life and important people start flashing in front of your eyes like a movie scene. You start realizing how valuable life is and that so many incomplete things are awaiting your time and attention. This feeling stays with you for few minutes ofcourse and then the obvious happens. You take out your phone and either start updating your status or sharing photos on Instagram. I had a different reaction to all this however. I puked and puked and puked……….. luckily near a tree. As I said it pretty much can rain anytime in Germany